Dark Side of the Moon
by Animation Universe 2005
Summary: Musaki goes on a rescue mission to save a young wolf named Arizona from a dark prison where the some evil wolves are making his life miserable and along the mission, a friendship is formed. Will Musaki help him? Find out and enjoy this story!
1. Arizona's Beginnings

This was something that came out of my head during the summer and this definitely hits the centerpiece. I came up with this idea of Musaki going on his first rescue mission on his own and while he's there, a friendship has formed. This is for vampire1031, Joe 'Po' Navark (given that he likes friendship stories) and Tan-Tan Tanuki. I hope you like this one.

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><p>The Dark Side of the Moon<p>

by: Terrell James

Chapter 1: Arizona's Beginnings

A long time ago somewhere in ancient China, lived a very peaceful place named Mu Zho Village where the wolves live in deep harmony and peace. Emperor Rao and his wife Ming-Mei were peaceful rulers of the Mu Zho Village to keep the intruders out of their way and kept a close-knit united front for everyone.

And it was with great joy that the emperor has brought forth a son to have a bright future ahead of him. The emperor looked into his hazel-blue eyes and gave him a name; Li-Xiao Arizona. The name suited for him because he was born early in the morning and that he has strength as well. He lived a very happy life in his early months of being born in the world.

But soon enough, it all changed just before Arizona was only a year old, he witnessed something tragic...watching his mother die in his eyes by an evil crocodile bandit. It was sheer panic in the village to see that someone killed the emperor's wife.

Everyone in the Mu Zho village became devastated and the emperor became saddened by this tragedy, but he has decided to carry on her legacy to being peace and love into the village as well as taking care of his young son, giving him enough love and stability he can get.

But it will have been only one year that they ever get to be together when one fateful day, a huge massacre occured in the village were a group of wolf bandits set out to destroy all that which was good; homes, villages and residents. The emperor could not let this happen as he takes his son somewhere safe so he wouldn't get apprehended by the wolf bandits along with their leader, Dai Ling.

As further as he tried to run, there was nowhere else to go when Dai Ling got in front of him with a sword to seize him. The emperor runs off again trying to save his son from the evil wolves gaining on him. As soon as he gets in the forest to hide him, he managed to fight them with his sword, killing most of the wolf's men in their way.

But Dai Ling came in front of him and used his steel sword to kill him. Just when the emperor was gonna defeat him, the lead wolf stabs him in the back, causing him to scream in pain and falls down on the ground with his lifeless body in the grass.

Soon, Dai Ling walked over to him and sees the emperor's blood coming out of him and felt like he had no regrets of killing the emperor and suddenly, heard a distant cry coming from above and he sees that it's the emperor's son still alive. He could care less about him but somehow, he was gonna take him away from his father into thinking that he 'abandoned' him and that he might raise him in a negative environment.

After the massacre, the wolves headed back to 'their' village, Kong Wolf City, where it used to be a wolves' haven for peace and tranquility, but has since been taken over by Dai Ling's ruthless and evil demeanor as they kept every wolf on the verge of despair where he sent the leader of the town, Master Xiang to prison to let the evil wolf leader take over along with his 200 members of his clan there and it's also where Arizona's been living there his whole childhood. As the years went by, Arizona became the victim of the wolf's constant abuse and harsh, strict negative demeanor, telling him that he's worthless and love is a four-letter word for weakness.

Friendship became a short-lived moment in his world when he met two friends-a skunk and a lion-when he snuck out of the tower one night when he was seven, but any chance he got, the wolf guards managed to scare them off and banished him from the outside world and he never saw them again for nine years.

Throughout most of Arizona's life, he's been judged by several of Dai Ling's pack members who's been treating him like crap and doesn't give him any respect whatsoever and being bullied by them didn't help either.

Whenever he sees a new moon, he howls at it to feel like there may be other wolves out there that feels the same way, but most of the wolves make fun of him for howling on the dark side of the moon, saying that wolves only howl at the full moon. But the mock him by saying 'there's no such thing as a dark moon.'

As he grew older, Arizona felt like a prisoner in his zone, being that the place is a prison where several animals from different species get arrested for trespassing or whatever and torturing innocent people for no known reason. The more Arizona helplessly watched them all be treated unfairly and suffer, the more he feels completely broken.

But the leader felt like Arizona was not reaching potential within himself when it comes to his interest of kung-fu, thinking it's a waste of time and energy and that they're stupid enough to be a kung-fu master.

Dai Ling couldn't stand the fact that Arizona has a good heart and in one good deed of feeding the prisoners, Dai Ling went into a full on rage and scratched Arizona's eye, leaving behind a scar on his eye and beat him down senselessly. The more pain and suffering Dai Ling gave him, the more harsh treatment Arizona received every single year and Dai Ling always tells him that a wolf like him are monsterous, hideous, ugly and doesn't deserve to be loved by everyone, especially in other species thinking that the world is a cruel place for him to be a part of and Arizona believes it, though he disagrees.

Nearly 14 years has passed since the massacre in the Mu Zho village and Arizona hopes to seek freedom from this place to feel like he's special and that someone will be a good friend to him. The ideal friend for him is someone who's by his side, willing to give him a chance for who he is, feeling like he's a good person and needs loyalty and trustworthy to get him out of loneliness. But he has lost hope over the way he is because of the scar on his eye and a wild spiky mohawk hair on his neck for who would be friends with someone like him that Dai Ling calls him...a hideous monster that doesn't deserve love?

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><p>Awesome intro, right? What do you think of Arizona? I know you'll ask 'Where's Musaki in this?' He's on the next chapter and he'll receive the biggest task of his life. Let me know what you guys think and I hope you like it. vampire1031, I hope I did a good job at it.<p> 


	2. Important News

And this is where the story begins...

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><p>Chapter 2: Important News<p>

It was another peaceful day in the Valley of Peace and at the Jade Palace Training Hall, the Five were watching as Po and Musaki played a staring contest to see which one can stare the longest. So far, Musaki spent the whole 30 minutes staring at Po with no nerves at all. Po, on the other hand...seems to sort of struggle with how he's gonna get through this.

"Who do you think's gonna blink?" whispered Monkey.

"I think Po's gonna blink." Viper answered.

"As if. I'm still getting those almond cookies if Musaki chokes." Tigress sneered.

"My cookies are on Musaki all the way." Mantis argued.

"Mine too." Crane added.

"These two have been going at this for 30 minutes. All they need is 15 more and we'll see who wins this challenge. One blink and it's over."

They continued to debate who gets to win the staring contest while Po and Musaki still manage to stare at each other. Musaki let out a cocky smirk to determine that Po will choke at any given moment and Po was trying not to blink as he stared at him, but sweat comes out of his face as he struggles not to let Musaki win.

"Is Po sweating?" asked Mantis.

"Looks like he is." Viper answered.

Musaki seems calmer and much more determined to win this thing and Po is on the verge of blinking and suddenly, the sweat drips from his face, causing him to blink two times and suddenly Musaki said, "You blinked!"

"Oh, what?" Po asked in shock.

"Po blinked! Po blinked! Po blinked! The Dragon Warrior has finally been beaten by the 16-year old panda!" Mantis exclaimed.

Most of them cheered for Musaki for winning the staring contest and congratulated him. Viper said, "You went without blinking for 35 minutes! A new world record!"

"Congrats!" Crane said, happily.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you."

"Aw, come on! That's not fair!" Po whined.

"Dude, I finally beat the Dragon Warrior at something. Three years of living here and I finally beat him at something!" Musaki exclaimed.

"Well, Tigress...you lost the bet." Monkey said.

Monkey gives Musaki, Crane and Mantis three pieces of almond cookies and immediately gobbled them down. Musaki sighed in happiness and said, "Who would've thought victory would taste so sweet?"

"And amazingly good." Mantis added.

Po felt flabbergasted that Musaki stared at him for 35 minutes and asked, "How did he do that?"

Tigress came up to him and said, "I guess Musaki beat you at your own game."

"It's like...he's suddenly invincible, like nothing gets in his way."

She chuckled for a minute and said, "Reminds me of someone I know."

"What? Who?"

Of course, Po could tell that she's talking about him. He scoffs and said, "You're kidding, right?"

"Okay, let's play another game." Musaki calls out.

"I love games! What are we playing?" asked Monkey.

"Would you rather."

"Would we rather what?" asked Viper.

"It's kind of a question game where I ask you guys would you rather be or do one thing or another thing and it's pretty much a random question game and you get to pick which ones would you rather."

"Sounds like fun." Mantis said.

"All right...Viper."

"Yes."

"Okay, would you rather fly or have healing powers?"

"Hmm...kinda tough to say. But I think I'll go with flying."

Crane starts laughing hysterically after he heard what Viper just said. She looked at him with a stern look on her face and asked, "And just what is so funny about it?"

"You, fly? I've only seen you jump and I don't think you might fly in the sky."

She rolled her eyes and said, "You're such a yak-mutt."

"I'm just messing with you, Vipe."

"Okay then...Mantis. Would you rather date a butterfly or a mosquito?"

"Uh...depending on which one doesn't eat my head. I would say butterfly because I think that it'd be really good to be in a relationship with than with my own kind because my mom ate my dad's head before I was born. So, I think butterfly's the way to go."

"Really?"

"Yep. I'm pretty sure the butterflies would get a dose of Mantis-mania."

"Oh boy." said Viper and Tigress, sarcastically in unison.

"You think they won't disgust you when you first meet them?" asked Viper.

Mantis glared at them and said, "Not really."

"Monkey...would you rather eat a strawberry or a mango?"

"Strawberry. Because I had a bad experience with a mango when I was young."

"Really?" asked Po.

"Yeah. I'm not a big fan of mangos."

"Why don't you like mangos?" asked Crane.

"Trust me, you don't want to know."

Crane could tell that it was something weird and somewhat disgusting and said, "Sorry I asked."

"Okay...moving on. Viper, would you rather kiss Po or Monkey?"

Po and Monkey turned to Musaki and asked, collectively, "WHAT?"

"Kiss them where?' asked Viper.

"In the cheek or in the lips?"

Po and Monkey exclaimed disgustedly with the thought of being kissed in the lips would be weird and gross and Viper quickly said, "The cheek."

"That's worse." Monkey added.

"Actually, it's not that bad." Po said.

"At least someone agrees with being kissed in the cheek." Viper added, glaring at Monkey.

"All right. Tigress, would you rather...go on a date with a tiger or marry Po?"

Tigress was completely shocked by the question Musaki gave him and said, "What kind of question is that?"

"The kind where you spill the beans."

"I would date a tiger, but Po and I are just friends."

"Mm-hmm." the others said.

"Don't give us that 'we're just friends' chiz. Po told me that you hugged him before you set off to get Shen but got held off when you saw Po being blasted by his cannon thinking he 'died'."

"It was a very scary moment for me." Tigress said.

"Like I said, the game is a full amount of random questions that are somewhat unusal, weird and kinda funny. All right...Po. Would you rather...eat candy or carrots?"

"Uh...candy. No, I meant carrots."

Musaki makes buzzing sound and said, "You said candy. I saw your stash under your bed."

"You did?"

"Yep."

"I can't live without my candy. I have a crazy addiction to candy since I was a cub. I would ask my dad for some candy and he wouldn't let me, so I used a technique to make him get what I want. I let out my sad face almost like I want to cry and he caved in. I've been using that trick ever since."

"When did you stop?" asked Mantis.

"I still do it to this day."

"Hey, what can I say? I love candy."

Musaki chuckled and said, "I don't blame ya. Okay, now it's time to turn the tables and ask me would I rather."

They all start to like this idea and Tigress went first and asked, "Musaki, would you rather...kiss a girl or chicken out?"

"Honestly, I would kiss a girl and be a gentleman at the same time."

"That's sweet. Viper said.

"Thanks."

"Okay, would you rather lift heavy things or have healing powers?"

"Lift heavy things. Because I would most like pick up something huge and make it easier to lift."

"My turn! Woudl you rather eat all of Monkey's cookies or noodles?" asked Po.

"I'd eat noodles. Nothing against the cookies, but my limit would be just one piece, because you're a cookie snack hound."

Monkey glared at him and Po tried to say something, but his brain froze immediately and Monkey laughed, gave him a high-five and said, "Good one. Okay, my turn. Would you rather defeat a robber or a power-hungry villain?"

"Power-hungry villain. I would love to take him out with my face."

"You would?"

"If his face was vulnerable."

"Okay, Musaki. Would you rather battle me or Monkey?" asked Crane.

"I'd say both, because I can take you on any day."

"And I guess I'm last. Would you rather do acupuncture or calligraphy?" Mantis asked.

"I would rather do calligraphy, because I'm still scared of getting acupunctured."

"I would love to show you calligraphy."

"Aw, Musaki. You have to try acupuncture. You can't avoid it forever." Mantis said.

"I'll think about it." Musaki added.

Just then, the door opens and it's Zeng coming in the door and he greets everyone and Po asked, "New messages?"

"I just gave one to Master Shifu and I also came to see Musaki." Zeng answered.

"For what?" asked Musaki.

"Shifu wants to talk to you."

"Okay, later guys."

Musaki walks off the room and he heads to the Dragon Grotto where he sees Shifu meditating with Oogway's stick and he hears Musaki's footsteps slowly entering the grotto.

"You...wanted to see me?"

Shifu just stood there on Oogway's stick with his eyes closed and said, "Sit down, Musaki."

Musaki sat down on the ground and he didn't know what to expect from him. Then, Shifu opened his eyes, turned to him and said, "As you know, you're almost becoming an adult pretty soon. Those three years of you being here were the best three years of my life, so far. You've grown into an amazing, unstoppable person that has ever been able to go on rescue missions with my students."

"Thanks."

"And you've been at this stage in your life when you feel like you're taking things a little serious in kung-fu. And you've also made me become a better master and a better father figure to you."

"Thank you."

"I just want to tell you that I want you to be prepared for what's coming your way."

Musaki got a little confused and asked, "What's coming my way?"

"At 16, I think it's time you're ready for the ultimate task...your own rescue mission."

Musaki stared at him and thought that he might be crazy, but then he finds out that he's serious. He chuckled and said, "My own rescue mission?"

"Yes. You will be able to rescue someone on your own and bring him here to the Jade Palace."

"How is that possible?"

"The messenger brought me this message from a place called Kong Wolf City and it says that he wants to wreak havoc on all of the good people in China and that the late emperor's son should be rescued out of there and brought back to the Valley of Peace to live in harmony as well as defeat the leader, Dai Ling. What was once a peaceful town run by the leader has been taken over by this corruptive wolf who wants nothing but to rule the entire city."

Shifu gave the message to Musaki and he realizes that this is a shot for him to think he's capabale of going on his own rescue mission. He asked, "What's the young one's name?"

"Li-Xiao Arizona. But they just call him Arizona. The emperor and I were good friends for a long time before we went our separate ways 18 years ago and on his note, ' Shifu, my friend...If anything happens to me, I want you to take in Arizona for me and bring him that peaceful life that he wants to have.' I want to fulfill that promise to my friend. Can I count on you to do that?"

"Yes, master."

"I gotta be honest with you. Rescue missions are very dangerous, especially when you're by yourself. You may face some obstacles on your way there."

"I'm sure I can handle it."

"This is no easy task. I want you to fulfill your rescue mission just so you can make us all proud."

Musaki felt like he was gonna fulfill this purpose that Shifu is giving him and he said, "I'll do it, master."

He bowed him and Shifu bowed him as well and Musaki heads out of the grotto, feeling immersed and amazed that he gets to go on his own mission. Although, Shifu does have a sign of worry about him going on his first rescue mission by himself and whispered, "Just come back home in one piece."

Then, he returns to his meditate stance chanting, "Inner peace...inner peace...inner peace..."

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><p>Musaki's first rescue mission on his own? How awesome would that be? The next chapter will come in two locations: Kong Wolf City in the beginning and Jade palace in the end. So, I hope ya'll like this one.<p> 


	3. Faith in Mission

This is divided in two parts: Kong Wolf City and another part is in the Jade Palace, so I might go back and forth in two situations.

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><p>Chapter 3: Faith and Support<p>

In Kong Wolf City, Dai Ling looks over the entire city from his tower/jailhouse to bring in new world order and to show the residents live there that they should be put in their place and bow down to him. He chuckles sinisterly and said, "My city...once I was disowned by my own clan, but now I'm getting what's coming to them as I will rule this city as the emperor!"

"Master Dai Ling?"

He turns around and sees Arizona, 16 years old, grey wolf, blue eyes, weighing in 158 pounds, 5'9, wears dark brown tattered shorts and has a scar on his left eye and a wild untamed spiky hair, coming in the room and Dai Ling asked, "What do you want?"

"I came in to tell you that you have a visitor."

"Very well."

Dai Ling walks in the room and sees a gorilla coming in and said, "Dai Ling, the name's Kuen."

"Pleasure to meet you."

"I am your new gorilla guard."

"Ah, yes. I have been expecting you. Have you brought the rest of your clan with you?"

Kuen calls in his army of gorilla guards and enters the palace, which made Dai Ling chuckle sinisterly and said, "These are the rest of the army."

"Very good. Well, I can see that we're gonna get along just fine. I'm pretty confident that no intruder will think of setting foot in this town." Dai Ling said, with an evil smirk.

Arizona walks off the room without a sound while him and Kuen have a discussion and as he makes his way back to his room, he stumbles upon one of the wolves in the prison call, a tall grey wolf with red eyes, mid-30's, 207 pounds, 5'9, male, only wearing blue tattered shorts with a green amulet on his necklace and he said, "Hey, Arizona."

"Hey, Chao."

"What is on your mind?"

Arizona sighed heavily and said, "Do you ever think that there's something more out there?"

"Like what?"

"Like...there's a world outside of this...this..."

"Prison? I've always felt that way since Dai Ling stepped in as leader. I have a feeling that he's gonna bring doom and gloom into our city."

"Sometimes...I feel like I'm just trapped inside of this place for so long, but I would never fit in out there."

"And why is that?"

"Look at me. Do you see the scar on my face? That tells you that I'm a worthless wolf that won't amount to anything."

Chao disagrees with what he said and puts his hand on Arizona's shoulder and said, "That is not true."

"Yes it is. You've seen me get abused by Dai Ling. No matter what I do, it's just not enough to please him."

"You have great abilities. You cook, you play music, and you also like kung-fu."

Arizona suddenly felt this feeling as if he opened up his mind to think that he sees potential in him that he never even knew before. Then, Chao said, "Not to mention, you have a huge, kind heart. But you just have to find it within yourself."

"How is that even possible?"

"Look beneath yourself. I understand that you want to leave this place and I'm pretty sure that someone will bring you out of that zone."

"Who?"

"I do not know yet, but I will predict that someone will set you free."

Arizona scoffs at him and asked, "How can you be so sure?"

"Because someone break you out of there and give you peace in the world."

As much as Arizona wants to escape or believe in Chao's prediction, he thinks that it'll never happen because who would care for someone like him? He sighed heavily and said, "Thanks for your concern and the prediction you gave me, but let's face it. I'm different from everyone else. Besides, who would accept or even be friends with someone like me?"

"Have you ever doubted me?"

"No, you never did."

"Then, you'll have to believe me. Besides, I would accept someone like you if someone tried to save me from this prison because I have total faith that it will happen and you should too. Just think about it."

Arizona wanted to give it some thoughts about someone coming in to save him and accept him for who he is, but his doubts slowly creep in on him because of the painful memories that Dai Ling said to him about being different from others as well as other wolves who judge him and make fun of him because he's not like any other wolves. He lets out a huge sigh and gets out Chao's cell for a while to think this over. Then he turns around and asked, "If someone did set me free, you'd tell me, right?"

Chao looks at Arizona and responded, "Just follow your heart. That's all I can give you."

Arizona looks down on his chest and puts his paw on it and figured that's where his heart is. Although, he's unsure about what it meant ebcause of the years, some of Dai Ling's wolf army thinks that that kind of thing is weak and doesn't think that it exists, but thinks that Chao might be right. He's not sure when it'll happen, but hopes that he'll be free someday. Soon, two of Dai Ling's wolf guards caught him talking to the 'prisoner' and said, "I thought Dai Ling told you not to talk with the prisoners!"

Fear struck on the young wolf and he turns around to see two figures dressed in armor and quickly apologized to both of them, but one pushed him down on the ground which made both of them laugh.

"This kid is so worthless!" one wolf, pointed out while laughing hysterically.

"Yeah, he should reign in the prince of ugly monsters!" another guard said.

The sounds of laughter definitely broke Arizona's spirit as he got himself up and walked out of there as he made his way into his room feeling hurt and miserable. While there, he looks up the window and sees another new moon coming in and he climbs up to the roof and starts howling at it. While all the wolves howl at a full moon, Arizona howls at the new moon because of the way it looks in a dark side thinking that the moon isn't like any other moons that wolves are used to.

He's been taunted most of his life by Dai Ling and his wolf members for seeing a new moon and howling at it, but Arizona doesn't really care about it. He just howls at it to let out his frustration and sadness he's been carrying.

Just then, he stops and sees Dai Ling stands by and asked, "Howling at the dark moon again?"

"It's a new moon." Arizona replied.

He looks up and only sees the sky and he looks at Arizona and said, "You do realize that there is no such thing as a new moon, right?"

"But there is. What's the problem with howling at a full moon?"

"You're a wolf! Wolves howl at a full moon!"

"Some howl at a new moon."

"Those who howl at this new moon means that they're really against the wolves' ability to be around a full moon."

"Just because you can't see a new moon doesn't mean it's not actually there."

"I tell you this! If you think you'll just howl or see this...this...dark moon, then you must be the most delusional, stupidest wolf I've ever met!"

He pushed Arizona down hard and grabs a hold of his neck, wanting to strike him down, but decides that he's got better things to do that argue with him and he lets go of him and said, "Why waste my time talking with you when you don't consider yourself a real wolf? I've got better things to do. And by the way, you will not talk to, see or feed those prisoners. Do I make myself clear?"

Arizona looked him up with fear and said, "Yes, master."

He then walks off, leaving Arizona feeling in despair and hurt that because people don't the same thing Arizona sees, doesn't mean that anyone's right. He sighed heavily as the wind blows through his fur and lowered his head down as the tears start to flow out of his eyes and whispered, "There has to be a better place...but I'm just fooling myself. No one will see me as anything, but a worthless freak."

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><p>Meanwhile, back at the Jade Palace, Musaki explained to the rest of the Five and Po about his first rescue mission and everyone said, "You're doing what?"<p>

"My own rescue mission. Can you guys believe this?" asked Musaki.

"Not even I can believe it." Mantis added.

"Why would Master Shifu want **_you_** to go?" asked Tigress.

"He said something about me becoming a young adult and that since I'm older, I might as well be ready for it." Musaki answered.

"You do know that it's a dangerous job, right?" asked Crane.

"Yeah, I know."

"So why now?"

"I don't know, but he told me that I'm supposed to rescue someone named Arizona and bring him here."

"Who's Arizona?" asked Po.

"I honestly don't know, but Shifu told me that his father became Shifu's old friend."

"Like ancient old friend?"

Musaki glared at him and said, "Zip it."

"Sorry."

"Anyways, he told me to head to this place called Kong Wolf City."

"Kong Wolf City? Isn't that where all the wolves live?" asked Monkey.

"Yeah, some evil wolf dude went and turned it upside down to take over the place and destroy everything that's good."

"That's terrible." Viper said.

"I know."

"Are you sure you're up for this on your own?"

Musaki sighed heavily and said, "I am, but I'm kinda scared knowing that it'll be my first mission without you guys. But I'm hoping I will do anything to make you guys proud of me."

Most of the Five looked at each other and they know that they only want the best for Musaki and Viper said, "If you're really that determined and willing to do whatever it takes to do it, then we're behind you 100%."

Musaki let out a smile and said, "You're the reason why I wake up every morning and train side-by-side with you."

"I hope that was a compliment."

"I meant everyone else. Knowing that I united front really makes me happy."

"I thought that you were gonna profess your crush on Viper that you had for 20,000 years." Mantis said, then burst out laughing.

Viper looked at him with a stern stare and said, "You are such an immature little weasel."

"Oh come on. Even you would have a crush on Musaki."

Musaki blushed a little bit and Viper just swat him in the head with her tail, causing Mantis to fall down on the floor and told him, "How's this for a crush?"

Mantis groaned in pain, got up and asked, "Too much?"

"What do you think?"

"I think I should keep my mouth shut."

"Yeah, good idea."

Just then, Zeke came by the room, greeted everyone and asked, "Hey, what's going on?"

"Hey, Zeke." Musaki said.

"Hey, what's up? I heard Shifu's putting you on a rescue mission task. That's awesome."

"Thanks. He said he'll show me what to do because...I leave tomorrow morning."

The room grew silent when they heard that and Po asked, "You leave tomorrow?"

"Shifu kinda told me that an hour ago and he said he's gonna give me some pointers before I leave."

"Isn't that too soon?" asked Tigress.

"I asked myself that same question, but if it's the way to learn then so be it."

"I hope you come back alive." Zeke said.

"I hope so too."

Shifu comes in the room and asked, "Musaki, would you come with me, please? I'd like to see you."

"Sure, master."

He gets up and leaves the room with Shifu while the others show some concern about Musaki's first rescue mission on his own. Crane became more outspoken about this whole thing and said, "What if something happens to him? There could be bandits and thieves waiting to kill him."

"I was thinking that same thing." Monkey added.

"But isn't that what rescue missions are, though?" asked Mantis.

"Yes, this is the case but this is Musaki we're talking about. This is a 16 year old young panda we're talking about who's going taking on a big task on his own. I don't know if he can handle this." Viper said, worriedly.

"Po, I'm sure you're worried about him." Tigress said.

Po sighed heavily and said, "I do. I worry about his safety a lot and a lot of missions we've been in, Musaki has been in several near-death experiences. It's like everytime he gets in several situations that's considered dangerous, my heart skips a beat when I think about it. As a big brother, you always worry about their safety and that you don't want to see him hurt. I've always been an only kid and I've never had any brothers or sisters that were my kind anyway, but when Musaki came in the picture it's like everything changes and the more closer I've gotten to him, the more of a brother I've become. I'm just willing to risk my life for him at any chance I get. There were times where he would be in so many dangerous areas thinking he might not make it alive, I look at Lil' Saki and he manages to get through it and every night, I'm scared to death worrying that something bad might happen to him one day."

"Sounds like very you're overprotective of him." Zeke added.

Everyone stared at him, thinking he was talking crazy-talk and Monkey said, "We're not that overprotective. We're just concerned for his safety."

"So am I. He's my twin brother as well. I've only known him for a year and a half and I just don't want to see him die."

"Neither do we. But I know for a fact that Musaki will do this."

"I just hope he succeeds it. Musaki's growing up before our own eyes since he's been here for the past three years." Viper said.

"Yeah, it was like he was 13 and seemed kinda shy and timid and now that he's 16, he's more outgoing and experienced than ever, though he's still the same. It's like he's the little brother we never had before." Po said.

"Whatever he's doing, either way we'll always be proud of him."

* * *

><p>Wasn't that amazing? Wonder what kind of things Shifu will teach Musaki about a rescue mission on his own? Chapter 4 will explain it all to you.<p> 


	4. Preparing and Support

Shifu teaches Musaki the perks of going on a rescue mission and this chapter may contain some emotional support for Musaki.

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><p>Chapter 4: Preparing and Support<p>

Shifu takes Musaki to the Sacred Hall of Warriors and when he stepped in there, he sees a dozen candles all around the Moon Pool and he figures that it might be formal or something like that. He then gets on Oogway's stick and told him, "Here are the things you should learn on doing a rescue mission. The Dragon Warrior and the Five have been on several rescue missions before as you know and since this is your first time going on your own, you have to be on the lookout for anyone and anything that steps in your way and you may face some challenges on the way there. For all I can tell you, the trip will be dangerous, difficult and most of all...very daring."

"What do I have to do?" asked Musaki.

"You must rescue Arizona from the jailhouse tower that Dai Ling is controlling in Kong Wolf City. You may face some very dangerous guards there and they pick on the innocent bystanders for no reason. You have to get in the tower without being seen or caught. When you find Arizona, bring him out of there and bring him directly to us. If there are anyone standing in your way or attempting to prevent your escape method, give them what's coming to them."

Musaki nodded his head at everything Shifu said and asked, "Are there any questions?"

"Just one. Will I succeed?"

Shifu looked at me and said, "I know you will succeed. The road may be rough, but I know for a fact that you will get through with this in no time."

He smiled and said, "I will make you proud."

"I know you will."

Suddenly, he sees Shifu's face and though he was filled with pride, he sensed worry in his eyes. He then asked, "You're worried about me, aren't you?"

"What's that?"

"I can see it in your eyes. It's like...you're really starting to have second thoughts about this."

Shifu already knew that worried expression and he knew that Musaki was right. Although he may be stern and proud of his effort, the fatherly side of him has been exposed in Musaki's eyes and he lets out a huge sigh and said, "Sit down."

Musaki sat back down and Shifu got in front of him and said, "I'm not only speaking as a master, but also as father. I know you may think I'm overprotective, but I just don't want you to get killed nor do I want to see or hear you die. I just couldn't live with that kind of pain again. I lost Tai Lung and you, Po, Tigress and the others are the only ones that mean a lot to me. I just want you to succeed on your mission and come home in one piece. You may understand why I feel this way someday because it's like you gave me a second chance to be a good father to you and that I wouldn't make the same mistake with you that I made with Tai Lung."

Musaki's eyebrows widened up and asked, "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because you know I lost a son. I just don't want to lose another. If something really did happen to you, I wouldn't live with myself. But I know I have to do it because I know you have so much potential coming out of you. I don't expect you to be another hero, just a person who is willing to do anything and everything to succeed in this mission."

He was surprised to hear it from Shifu and how "I didn't know you felt that way."

"I think about it every day. Just remember that no matter what you do, never forget that me, the Five and Po will always be proud of you."

He smiled at him and Musaki whispered, "Thanks, Shifu."

Shifu comes up to him and gives him a hug, knowing that he's gonna do the most important task to do, even if it means going solo. They broke off the hug for a sec and he said, "I'm gonna...turn in early."

Shifu realizes that Musaki's gonna need his rest for tomorrow and said, "Of course."

He walks off for a while and heads back to the bunkhouse and went to his room to get some rest because he knows what he's gonna be in for something big tomorrow.

Minutes later, he sees Tigress coming in the room and Musaki groans softly and figures she might come to bring in some negativity to him and he sat up and asked, "Are you here to torture me or think that I'm too wimpy to go on my first mission?"

She didn't say anything and she sat down on the edge of the bed and told him, "I just want to give you some advice about this task. All you have to do is just to the best you can in order to succeed. As you noticed in our adventures, rescue missions are not easy tasks."

"I know they're not. It's really dangerous and not to mention risky. I know, I've tagged along with you guys a lot."

"I know. But this is the first time you've ever gone on one on your own."

"I'm nervous but also excited about this."

She smiled and said, "I only hope that you'll do well. Listen Musaki, I know at times you might think I'm unfair and that we've had our issues in the past and I know that I may have been a little rough on you-"

"A little?"

"A lot."

"Is this a trick?"

"No. I'm just saying this to you. I know you might think that I might not understand or care about you and everything you've been through because I'm hardcore, but sometimes the hardcore does understand."

Musaki never knew Tigress would be like this towards him and he said, "You do?"

"Yes. You lost everything you had 13 years ago and when you came here, you had grown from who you were to who you are now. You were filled with suffering but it seems like you smile on everything. I was just jealous of you because you had better skills than me. I never told anyone this but I actually consider you as my brother because we have a few things in common. When I get that picture of you going on your mission by yourself...it just scares me. If something happened to you, I don't know what I'd do. Plus, I would never forgive myself for saying all the things I said to you."

"Well, you did hurt my feelings on the first night."

"I know and I'm sorry."

She comes over and gives him a hug and it was like Tigress lets her guard down to be on the softer side due to Musaki's mission. They broke off for a minute and she said, "I know you'll make all of us proud."

He chuckled and said, "Thanks, Tigress."

"But don't think that it might last because I'm still gonna spar with you when you get back."

"Name the time and place."

"Same as always."

"You are on!"

She chuckled softly and said, "Get some rest. You may need it."

"I know."

Soon enough, Musaki drifted himself off to sleep and he let out a little smile on his face knowing that he's got a support system to have his back on his first solo rescue mission. Later, Po walked into the room to check on Musaki for a while and he sees that he's sleeping and patted his head and whispered, "I love you, Lil' Saki."

He knew Musaki heard that and he walks out of the room, and Musaki whispered, "Love you too, Po."

* * *

><p>Emotional support and all before his first mission. Bet you didn't see that coming...Tigress being nice to Musaki. Well, what did you expect? Next chapter...the mission begins!<p> 


	5. The Mission Begins

Let Musaki's first mission begin! Again, I'm switching back and forth from the Kong Wolf City prison tower to early morning in the Jade Palace. So it's Arizona first and Musaki second. Bear with me on this, okay?

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><p>Chapter 5: The Mission Begins<p>

In the prison house in Kong Wolf City, Arizona walked past the wolves in the cell to sneak in food for the others, knowing that it's against Dai Ling and his wolf members' policy to do so. Then, he walks over to Chao to see if he needs anything and finds out that he's meditating while making a solid prediction.

"What are you doing?" Arizona asked.

"I have a strong feeling...that your time to be rescued is nearing."

Arizona didn't believe it at first, but then wanted to find out who it was that would take him out of the prison and asked, "Who can it be?"

"I predict that you will be rescued...by a young warrior in black and white that will break you out of this dark hole and bring you into the light."

"Really?"

"And that you'll form...a friendship."

Arizona was with him until the friendship part because he knows that no one will accept him and said, "Seriously? Who will accept me as a friend?"

Chao only chuckles and said, "You never know until it happens."

He leaves the bowl for Chao just in case and heads out of the room and he sighs heavily and said, "Even if someone did rescue me, I could have a friend. But what's the use? I'm just...nothing."

"But someone will help you see past all of that. You're so much more than that. You are...special."

Arizona looked up and saw Dai Ling coming upstairs and gave him a stern look and asked, "I know what you're doing."

He looked at him in fear and asked, "Y-You do?"

"If you think you're gonna escape from this palace, you're wrong. I've fed you, clothed you, kept a roof over your head and this is the thanks I get after your heartless, cruel father abandonded you as a young cub after that massacre?"

He sighed heavily and said, "I didn't mean to upset you, master."

"Just remember...the world is a cruel, wicked place where no one will accept you."

Dai Ling's lies to Arizona affected him most of his life and kept his awful secret to himself 14 years ago. Arizona then went back to his room and he looked at himself in the mirror and hears those voices come out of his head by the other wolves.

'You're ugly!'

'No one will ever love you.'

'Love is full of weakness!'

'There is no such thing as a new moon! Those that howl at a new moon instead of a full moon is not worthy of being a wolf and you are not like other wolves!'

'Why can't you be a normal wolf like everyone else?'

'No one will ever be friends with an ugly, disgusting monster like you!'

It's things like this that made Arizona feel like he's worthless and thinks that they might be wrong, but if he actually says it to them, the consequences for him would be ultimately painful. He sighed heavily as he lowered his head down and made his way to his bed and just laid there and looked at the ceiling and one tear fell out of his eye and asked, "Why did you abandon me, dad? Why?"

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, the next morning at the Jade Palace, Musaki did some yoga in the Sacred Peach Tree to start off his journey through his first rescue mission to find peace within himself. Suddenly, he hears someone walking in and he knew it was Shifu coming in and asked, "Finding inner peace, Musaki?"<p>

"You can say that." Musaki replied.

"Are you ready for this?"

"I've been ready."

Musaki stood up and Shifu gives him a map to Kong Wolf City and said, "This will help you on your way to your destination. Zeng brought it in along with the message of your mission."

"Thanks."

"All your stuff is ready. Musaki...do be careful."

"I will."

Later, he got everything he needed to get himself ready for his mission and he takes a look at the Five and said, "Well...this is my first mission on my own. I have to say I'm really excited about it."

"I'm glad this opportunity came for you at the right time." Viper said, happily.

Monkey comes over to him and gives out a little something he made. He asked, "What's this?"

"Friendship bracelet. Since you have one, I thought that maybe I might make a few of them for you just so that our friendship will be kept alive no matter what." Monkey answered.

He then shows him his own and Musaki smiled and said, "Thanks, Monkey."

"Hey, friends forever right?"

"Right?"

Monkey gives him six types of friendship bracelets and puts them in a backpack to bring them along for the trip. Mantis comes in, hops on his shoulder and said, "Go kick some butt."

"Will do."

"Someone will be waiting for you on a boat by a person named Quiang that'll take you to Kong Wolf City." Zeng chimed in.

"Cool. Thank you very much."

Po looked at Musaki and quickly came over to give him a hug and tearfully exclaimed, "Don't go, Lil' Saki! Don't leave us! I don't want you to die!"

"Po, I'll be okay." he said, choking.

"You don't know that! Do you know how much it would kill me to find that one day that you won't come back and something will happen to you? I can't live with that! You mean everything to me. I just..I can't...I just can't see you die!"

"Po..."

Tigress gently puts her hand on Po's shoulder and said, "It's okay. We all know this time has come."

Po sighed heavily and even though he's worried about Musaki's safety, he knows that he will do anything to make sure his mission is fulfilled. He fave him a hug and said, "I'm sorry. It's just...it's really hard to see you leave on your own without us. But I know you gotta do what you can to fulfill your purpose. You're my little brother and I'm very proud to be your big brother. Just be safe, okay? And always remember that I'll always be happy for you."

"Thanks, Po."

Crane came over to him and puts his wing on his shoulder and said, "We've got your back."

Musaki looks at all of them and he knows that this will be the biggest thing task he's gonna do, but knows that he has some support from his adopted family for his rescue mission and said, "I'll miss you...and I will come back with a mission that'll be accomplished."

"I know you will." Shifu said, trying to hold back tears.

"Go get them, Lil' Saki." Po whispered.

Musaki grabbed his stuff and headed out the stairs and waved them 'goodbye' and the others cheered good luck to him. As soon as he left, Shifu whispered, "Good luck...my son."

As he left the Valley of Peace, he looked back and whispered, "I'll make you proud, Shifu. I promise."

He went through several places to go to get there and later, he sees a boat coming in and he sees a yellow-brown goose coming in and asked, "Are you Musaki?"

"That's me." Musaki replied.

"My name's Quiang. Zeng told me about this mission you'll do and it's a boat ride from here."

"Well, thanks."

He puts his stuff there as he gets onboard and the boat sets off for sail and Quiang said, "Good luck!"

"Thanks."

Musaki sets off on the boat trip to Kong Wolf City and he feels ready to take the challenge and he knows that his parents would be very proud of him to accomplish this mission. He looks up at the sky and whispered, "Wish me luck, mom and dad."

Nightfall comes and Musaki's inside the boat falling asleep and it was the first time sleeping in a boat by himself and he somehow felt a little nervous about his first rescue mission on his own, but feels hopeful that he accomplishes it.

Soon, he hears someone coming in the boat and he woke up to see who it was. As soon as he gets up, he was surprised to see Crane standing in. He chuckled softly and he went in behind him and said, "Hey, Crane."

Crane turns around and sees Musaki behind him and said, "Hey, how are you?"

"Fine. What are you doing here?"

"Master Shifu sent me to check in on you, just to see if you made it."

"Not quite yet. I might make it there by morning."

"That's good to hear. How's Shifu?"

"Proud."

"Everyone else?"

"Excited.

"Po?"

"Worried...a lot."

Musaki can sense that there's a real reason why he was here and asked, "What are you really doing here?"

Crane sighs and said, "Listen...I'm just speaking as an older brother. We're really proud of you for doing what you're setting out to do. Really we are. We just want what's best for you and your safety is the most important thing to us."

"I'll be fine."

"Listen, missions like this are not always easy. Most kung-fu masters die in rescue missions although they have succeeded. The fact that you might be one of them at a very young age could destroy us. All we want for you is to come back home both victorious and safe. When you told me that I look up to you, it's like a part of me wants to protect you with every chance I got. You're like a little brother to everyone, mostly me and Po."

Musaki stayed quiet after what Crane told him and said, "I didn't know you felt that way."

"Eveytime we go on our missions and I see you out there, our hearts skips a beat when you almost die. The thing I fear the most is not seeing you anymore. Who else would I spar with?"

Musaki gave Crane a hug and he said, "You don't have to worry about me. I'll be okay."

"I know you will. And you'll do all of us proud."

"Thanks."

"Guess I better fly back because you might be nearing Kong Wolf City any minute."

"Sure thing. I'll see you later."

"See you later."

Crane flies away and then looks back and shouts, "Good luck, Lil' Saki!"

"Thanks!"

He flies again and Musaki felt like the rest has got his back and he knows that he has the support and love back home. He chuckled softly and whispered, "I'll return victorious."

He then sees a tower coming up and a sign that said, 'Kong Wolf City'. Musaki chuckled and said, "I made it."

Meanwhile, Crane takes one last look at the boat and sees that he finally made it to Kong Wolf City. He whispered to him, "You made it, little guy. Go get them. I know you can do it."

* * *

><p>He arrives at Kong Wolf City! What's gonna happen next? Find out on the next chapter! What would you like to see happen when he gets to Kong Wolf City for the first time? Let me know. Laterz! By the way, just had a 20th birthday. Forgot to mention it.<p> 


	6. Arrival and Captured

Musaki finally arrives to Kong Wolf City where his perilously awesome mission begins...

* * *

><p>Chapter 6: Arrival and Captured<p>

Musaki arrives to Kong Wolf City and as soon as he got there, he stops the boat, hops out and plans to sneak in without being noticed. Suddenly, he climbs up on a roof and sees this huge tower coming in and finds out that it's where the evil wolf leader is and also where Arizona is.

But there's a little roadblock-there are several wolf and gorilla guards everywhere and he's totally aware that he wants to get in that tower without being seen. He breathes heavily and turned invisible to make sure no one sees him.

As he walks across the town, he plays it cool being invisible to fool everyone by not being seen at all as he continues on his mission. Suddenly, some gorilla guards thought that he might've seen or heard anything coming in front of or behind him and as he turned around, he doesn't quite know what's going on.

Then, Musaki starts chuckling softly, which sorta caught the gorilla off-guard and asked, "Who's there?"

Then, he sees the crates fall down and figures that someone snuck in, but he doesn't see anyone though he hears some footsteps in front of him which freaks him out and runs off. Musaki chuckled again and whispered, "Sucker!"

He runs off and suddenly, he turns visible again. Giving that there are guards all over the city, it's difficult to not be seen when he knows that he'll get caught. So, he ran and immediately hides in an alley away from the city where there's barely anyone there.

But he hears some wolves coming in talking and he doesn't want to risk getting caught, so he hid underneath a cart hoping the wolves don't notice him and he turns invisible yet again.

A tiny sound came out of nowhere which caught their attention and one asked, "What's that?"

They looked around and figured that it was nothing as they went on their way.

"So anyway, as I was saying, my girlfriend went and cheated on me, so I went to the bar one night and bit off his leg."

"You did not."

"No, but I punched him in the face. Let me tell you...I won the bar fight!"

Musaki turned visible and sees that the coast is clear and runs off again. Once he got in the city, he sees a costume on the ground and plans to go in as a warrior, just to get everyone fooled. He walks in with a red robe and an asian hat, hoping that no one would notice.

Then, some of the boars were coming at him and attempted to rob him, but he stopped him before he could even do anything by punching him in the bonkers and bashing them in the head hard and they fell down on the ground.

Musaki chuckled and said, "I'd like to see you mess with me again."

Then, some of the citizens noticed Musaki staring at him as he walks by and one looks at him, went up to him and asked, "You new here?"

"Well...sorta."

He takes off the asian hat and told him, "Before you say anything, I'm not the Dragon Warrior nor am I a look alike, but I do live with them. My name's Musaki and I'm here on a mission."

"What is?"

"I have to bring in a wolf named Arizona out of this tower and bring him back to the Valley of Peace."

"The young man you speak of...he seeks freedom. He's been living there miserably for 14 years and he wants to get out of there."

"Has he told you before?"

"I don't quite know the young man well, but I can see it in his eyes when he stands in the tower and while he howls at a new moon and that he wants to escape from here. We were hoping that someone can take that ruler away from here, so that us wolves can live in peace. But...you have to be really careful to not get caught by some of his army."

"Who's army?"

"Dai Ling's. This dude is bad news, so you gotta keep a low profile. Good luck."

"I will. Thanks."

Musaki walks off and puts his hat back on and suddenly, one wolf caught his eye and exclaimed, "Hey you!"

"Oh crap. I'm busted."

The wolves ran up to him and Musaki immediately kicked them in the face and ran off, which prompted them to a chase frenzy. They got after him and one of the wolves stopped in front of him and said, "Got any last words?"

"Just one. Look up."

The wolf looked up and Musaki kicked him in the gut, causing him to groan in agony and Musaki said, "You shoulda looked."

He runs off and the wolf just held his dudehood while the other wolves set off to find Musaki all over the place. Then, Musaki sees the gorilla guards coming in front of him and then runs up to one of them and runs on top of them, does a backflip and runs off again.

"Get them!" the gorilla guard bellowed.

They all chased him down and this one wolf came in and caught him dead in the eye, but Musaki beat him in his face, flipped him and kicked him in the head and as soon as Musaki sees the entire mob, he went upward and beat down all of them, kicked them, slammed them down and used his blue beam power to knock them down. But most of the wolves stood up and resumed chasing him down and he jumped up through roofs trying to get to the tower before they caught him and he does a backflip and lands on a rickshaw and proceeds to ride around as quickly as he can.

He thought he lost the wolves until he sees the whole army in front of him and one wolf jumped up and pummeled him down to the ground and wrestled with him. Suddenly, they put the cuffs on him and in comes Dai Ling walking in front of him, looking at him in a disgusting manner saying, "So...we have an intruder here."

Musaki stands up and looks at him and asked, "You're Dai Ling?"

"You may call me that, but you do know you made a mistake coming here?"

"No, but I know how stupid you look."

Dai Ling angrily stared at him and just slapped him in the face hard, causing Musaki to groan in pain and he commanded them to take him to the prison tower. The guards walked him there and while he was walking, he began to see many families and children being tormented by the other wolf guards and Musaki couldn't bear to watch in horror to see what these citizens go through.

In the tower, Arizona sees the entire situation unfold as wolf guards started coming in and he sees Musaki getting pushed, shoved and kicked by the wolf guards and heard them laughing and jeering. He felt like he wanted to help him, but some of the wolf guards would prevent him from doing so which again caused him to feel helpless.

He looked away and puts his head on the wall and asked, "Why couldn't I have just stopped this?"

He sees the master of the city, Master Xiang, grey wolf, 189 pounds, 6'7, brown eyes, early-mid-40's, wearing a dark brown hoodie and only wearing dark brown ripped tattered shorts, comes in to him and said, "That just might be the young warrior Chao was talking about."

Arizona looked at the window and saw Musaki coming in the entrance of the jailhouse and figured that Chao's prediction was right. He sighed heavily and asked, "What do I do?"

"I think you might be able to help him."

"How can I? Dai Ling would kill me if I did that."

"Honestly, what would you rather do?"

Arizona thought about it quickly and if that young warrior is the one that can be the one to get him out of the jail, he might be willing to do anything for him. He took a deep breath and said, "Follow my heart and see where it goes."

Xiang rubbed Arizona's shoulder and said with a chuckle, "You've grown to be wise at such a young age. Not wiser than me."

He walks off, leaving Arizona plenty of time to think about this. He looks over the window and hops out and watches them take Musaki into the entrance of the palace tower and whispered, "I hope I know I'm doing the right thing."

As they got inside, Musaki was being pushed down on the floor by the guards and stopped to face Dai Ling. He made an evil smirk and said, "Who sent you here?"

"None of your business." Musaki replied.

"Answer me!"

"Master Shifu! There, ya happy?"

"Master Shifu...Grand Master Shifu?"

"Is there an echo in here?"

Dai Ling growls at him and said, "How do you know him?"

"I live with him! What else?"

"Just why are you here...exactly?"

"I am here to take Arizona out of here and bring him to the Valley of Peace. And I'm pretty sure that you've treated him like crap, haven't ya?"

"That is none of your business and you will do nothing of the sort! Arizona does not belong in the real world!"

"And why not?"

"Because he's like a monsterous ugly wolf! He's different from all of us and the world would not accept someone like him!"

Musaki stared at him confusedly and asked, "That's it? That doesn't seem like a good reason."

Dai Ling puts his blade into Musaki's face and said, "Don't cross me. I am most likely going to be the ruler in all of China and Kong Wolf City and they will all bow down to me!"

"You most certainly will not!"

"Oh, but I will...just as I will take over this wretched city and make it miserable as ever!"

"And where does Arizona fit into all this?"

"Well...he will just sit there, chained and beaten and watch the whole city fall down and I'll watch him suffer while you...you'll do nothing but stare death in the face."

"You do know I'm gonna kick your butt, right?"

"And how do you assume?"

"I assume that Shifu has told me about you and how stupid and crazy you are and I think he's right. If anything, there is a possible chance your you'll get your butt kicked by me."

"Not when I have my army around! Escape is futile. Get him out of here so my plan will be formed into action!"

The guards took Musaki away and he bellowed out, "You can't do this to all the good people in China! You will be defeated by me!"

Dai Ling chuckled maliciously and said, "Soon enough...I will be all powerful in China."

* * *

><p>Ooh! He's even crazier than Shen! I know for a fact that Musaki will defeat Dai Ling and rescue Arizona. Next chapter, how Musaki and Arizona met. And let me tell you, it's drama and action like never before!<p> 


	7. Meeting Arizona

Here's the moment we've all been waiting for...when Musaki meets Arizona and let me tell you, it's drama, angst and action city in this chapter. Hope ya'll like it!

* * *

><p>Chapter 7: Meeting Arizona<p>

Arizona quietly snuck into the palace and he sees Musaki being taken away by the wolves and he wants to help him out of this in any way he can, though he doesn't want to be caught or seen by them. But just when he thought that the coast was clear, out of nowhere five of the wolf guards surround him and one asked, "And just where do you think you're going?"

Arizona didn't want to tell them what he's really doing, but they already assumed that he was gonna get Musaki out and he took off running, but the wolves pummeled him down and scuffled him across the floor. Arizona struggles to break free, but the wolves cuffed him to his back and takes him back to the cell. He tries to resist, but they beat him down as they made their way in.

Meanwhile, the other wolf guards brought Musaki in the jail cells where other wolves who were imprisoned wrongly looking at him in silence and wonder. A few minutes in and Musaki hears some screaming coming in from the other side of the room and just as he was going in, he takes a peek in the corner and sees someone in another room being chained and beaten down millions of times.

And to his shock, the person that's being beaten is the one he's rescuing...Arizona. Musaki gasped in shock as he sees this before his very eyes. The fact that he had to watch made him feel helpless and he wanted to save him.

The wolves chained him up and beat him several times with a hammer, their knuckles and using a whip to tear him down. Arizona kept screaming in agonizing pain as blood starts coming out of his mouth, scars around his body and got a black eye all at the same time.

All the other wolves did was just laugh and torture him and it made Musaki really mad to see him in this much pain. He growls in anger and manages to punch out the other wolves and kicked him in what was gonna be Musaki's cell and went towards the other room and used his fists to punch through the walls and into where they tortured Arizona and manages to bring in a water power to make the cuffs rust and broke himself out of the cuffs with his fists and manages to punch all of the other wolves out.

After that, Musaki stared at him and sees that he's badly hurt and knocked out unconscious. He immediately picks him up and runs out of the cell to escape. All of the other imprisoned wolves looked on as they carried Arizona out and Chao said, "The young warrior of black and white...comes into our lives and saves Arizona."

Musaki stops for a minute and asked, "You speaking to me?"

"Yes. Arizona has long waited to be rescued from this cell." Chao answered.

"Okay..."

"Young warrior, what is your name?"

"Musaki."

"Where did you travel from?"

"The Valley of Peace."

All of the other wolves gasped and Chao asked, "The Valley of Peace? Where all the kung-fu masters live?"

"Yeah."

"I hope Arizona finds some stability there."

"No worries...uh..."

"Chao."

"Got it."

Suddenly, the wolf guards caught him carrying Arizona and he attempted to throw him across the room, punching the wolves out with his fists and legs and then caught Arizona as well as he gets out of the cell and as he runs off, he heads over to an empty room, hoping that no one can find either one of them.

Arizona groans softly and turns his head and as he opens his eyes and sees Musaki for the first time. He gasped in shock, jumps up and gets on the ground asking him in fear, "Who are you?"

Musaki assured him that he's not here to hurt anyone and said, "It's okay. I'm not here to hurt you or anything."

"How did you get here?"

"I managed to knock the crap out of those wolf guards after they beat you up, so I carried you and brought you in here for your safety..and mine too."

Arizona panted heavily, calmed himself down and asked, "What's your name?"

"Musaki. Is your name Arizona?"

"Yeah. And why are we in my room?"

"This is your room? Thought it was an empty room. Anyways, it's just to keep ourselves hidden away from those guards that are gonna kill us."

Suddenly, they hear the sound of weapons being fired from out of nowhere and Arizona suddenly realizes that they're looking for him an Musaki as well. He looks at him and said, "Sounds like they're coming for us."

"Pack up your stuff, dude. We're getting out of here!"

"You mean escape?"

"Like a free-spirited eagle."

"We don't time to pack up! They're coming after us and we're stuck out here-"

"Done."

Suddenly, Arizona sees his backpack packed up with his stuff and he was surprised that Musaki actually did that and asked, "How did you manage to...?"

"Ask later, escape now."

Arizona picked up his bag, carried it on his shoulder and Musaki followed behind him. They got out of there and went all the way down out of the tower and into the palace as the other guards chase after them with big weapons to knock them out, but Musaki took them down with every ounce he can get. He took down all of the wolf army and the gorilla army as well.

Most of them tried to get to Arizona, but Musaki punched them directly in the face and presuaded him to come along. They kept running and running until they see an escape route but they stopped and soon figured out there was a huge river there.

Arizona panted in fear and asked, "What do we do now?"

"We jump!"

"What? Are you crazy? We'll never make it in time!"

"Dude, do you want to get out or not?"

He looks up and sees Dai Ling looking very angry and brought in his blades to kill Musaki and him too and as he stared in shock, he quickly turned to Musaki and replied, "Maybe getting out is a good idea. Think we'll make it?"

"Do you trust me?"

One look into his eyes and he figured that this was the person that might be willing to save him and replied, "Yeah."

They both jumped out of there and landed in the river. They managed to swim across the other side as the wolf guards threw in fire arrows at them and they dodged them underwater and swam as faster as they could until they were missing.

Dai Ling growled in frustration and said, "Hold your fire! That little panda and that miserable wolf will come back and when he does, they're gonna pay!"

"Sir, you want us to search for them?" asked Kuen.

"I want you to look for them dead or alive! Even if you have to take down every unknown stranger in this city, so be it!"

"Yes, sir!"

Later, Arizona and Musaki made their way to shore and got out of the river, soaking wet. They both panted heavily and Musaki asked, "You good?"

Arizona takes a breath and said, "I think so. Did they follow us?"

He looks around and there's no one there and replied, "I think we lost them. We should get moving."

Arizona follows Musaki to a nearby forest and Arizona didn't really know why would he save him and he suddenly feels some pain on his shoulder and on his arm. Musaki sees him wincing and said, "Need some help?"

"No, I'm fine."

"You don't look fine to me."

"Dude, come on. There's nothing wrong with me."

Arizona kept wincing until he collapsed on the ground and felt some pain from his shoulder and Musaki told him, "Okay, it's obvious you need some taking care of."

Later, they set up camp and after Musaki made a fire, he went over to Arizona and sees the cuts on his arm and manages to try to heal him. He breaks out the shaolin wraps and plans to put it around his arm after cleaning up his wounds.

Arizona shudders as he sees a wet rag coming into his arm and tries to avoid it, making Musaki nervous and when he puts it down, he screams in pain.

"That hurts!" Arizona yells.

"If you'd quit moving around and hold still, it wouldn't hurt as much!" Musaki fired back.

"Why did you even come to the tower, anyway? It's like dangerous out there!"

"I was sent here!"

"And what stupid person would you send you to get me?"

"Master Shifu, that's who!"

He froze for a minute and asked, "Wait a minute...you mean _**the**_ Grand Master Shifu?"

"Yep."

"How does he know you?"

"Uh, I live with him."

"Are you like a kung-fu master or something?"

"Well, master in training, actually."

"That's..amazing."

Arizona simmered himself down for a while and Musaki puts the rag on Arizona's arm gently and he felt something sting and he asked, "What was that?"

"It's just something to ease the pain and help heal the scars quickly before I put some bandages on."

Soon, he puts a warm, wet rag on his shoulder and then puts the bandage on his shoulder and arm and before long, he started trusting him...just a little bit. He stands up, sits down on the ground and asked, "Why did you come all the way here to save me? I mean...you've never even heard of me."

"Shifu has told me a few things about you. Also, it's my first rescue mission. I promised my master to find you and bring you back to the Jade Palace."

"So you're really a kung-fu student?"

"Yeah, you could say that. It's kinda weird."

"I always thought about what it would be like out there. I've never actually set foot out of here for 14 years."

"14 years? That's a long time."

"Yeah, mostly because other species are...evil."

"Who told you something stupid like that?"

"My master, Dai Ling. He raised me most of my life."

"That crazy power-hungry wolf dude with a fat ego? How could he raise someone like you?"

"After my dad abandoned me thinking that I'm an ugly, worthless freak monster that no one will be friends with."

"And you believe that?"

"Look at me. What do you see?"

Musaki stared in Arizona's face and realizes that behind those eyes of his, he sees no monster anywhere inside of him and all he can see is sadness coming through. He answered, "I see a young wolf that's been filled with sorrow, sadness and has been through a lot of pain and suffering most of his life and lets those comments sink in because his master made him convince himself that he's a monster."

Arizona's eyes widened when he read through his mind and figures that he was right. He wasn't a monster, he was just a scared wolf who's been through so much. He turned himself away from Musaki and lowered his head down as tears start to come out of his eyes.

Musaki puts his hand on his shoulder and asked, "You know what you need?"

"What?" Arizona asked, tearfully.

"You need a friend."

He looks at Musaki and he lets out a smile and hugs him tightly as Arizona starts crying on his shoulder and whispered, "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

* * *

><p>Is this an awesome friendship or what? Tell me what you think about this. Stay tuned for the next chapter!<p> 


	8. Unexpected Friendships

On Musaki's first mission, him and Arizona are not alone on this trip...

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><p>Chapter 8: Unexpected Friendships<p>

Later that night, Musaki was asleep in his tent after a rough and dangerous day of heading to Kong Wolf City to bring Arizona out of the jail tower, which is considered the most daunting task for his solo mission. He tossed and turned a little thinking is he good enough for this mission and would he make Shifu proud. Most times, it feels as if he's unsure of himself, trying not to second guess himself.

He sighed heavily and tried to get some sleep for tomorrow, it'll be a long day for him and Arizona. As he was sleeping, he hears a howling sound coming out of nowhere. He opens his eyes, groaned in his sleep and gets himself up to find out where it came from.

As he makes his way through the hill, he sees Arizona howling at the moon and he only sees an eclipse of the moon. He slowly walks behind him trying not to disturb him while he's howling and minutes later, he turns around and there's Musaki coming behind him. He growls at him and he jumped back a little and asked, "What did I do?"

"You snuck up behind me." Arizona answered.

"Sorry. Your howling kinda...woke me up."

"Oh, I'm sorry. It's just...what I do every month."

"Like what?"

"You know how at times when people see a new moon?"

"Yeah."

"I'm kinda the only wolf that howls at a new moon."

Musaki felt kinda confused on that one and asked, "Don't wolves howl at a full moon?"

"Yeah, they do. But just because one sees a new moon and the other hasn't, doesn't mean that one is right than the other."

Musaki was surprised at what he said and told him, "You're very wise, aren't you?"

"Somewhat. So if anyone thinks that I shouldn't howl at a new moon, they automatically judge me."

"They do?"

"Yeah they do...like you."

"No. I would never judge you for that. I would never judge people for who they are because who they are is fine with me."

Arizona was touched when he heard Musaki say that and he turned to him and asked, "You think so?"

"I know so."

"You know, Dai Ling often tells me that people from other species and in another world are cruel, wicked and dangerous and some of them are liars. You're kinda different from others."

"Well, Dai Ling doesn't know anything about the good people in the world."

"He thinks that they're weak and are considered enemies."

"Well, there are some good people in the world. Like myself, Master Shifu, the Furious Five, The Dragon Warrior. In order to know that there are good people in the world, you have to meet one and only then you'll find your answer."

Arizona nodded his head and said, "I guess you're right."

"Hey, when we get to the Jade Palace, you'll have a peaceful life there. I promise."

"All right."

They both shook hands and a friendship is starting to form. Musaki chuckled and said, "Let's get some sleep."

"Okay."

Both of them got up and start walking back to their tents as they slept throughout the night and when morning came up, Musaki was the only one awake and out of the tent to do some yoga skills. As he was doing it, he hears some rustling sounds come out of nowhere and he goes around to find out where it came from and as soon as he gets there, he takes a small look and someone pounced on Musaki and he crawled up to him saying, "Surrender now or you'll have the most rotten smell of your life!"

Musaki then found out that it was a skunk. He chuckled softly and said, "Well this is weird."

The skunk laughed at him and said, "You shoulda seen the look on your face! You were like ,'ahhhhh!' when I jumped out of there."

He then laughed sarcastically and got himself up and the skunk went towards a rock and said, "Where'd you come from?"

"Honestly, from the Valley of Peace."

He gasped and asked, "Shut up!"

"Oh yeah. It's really amazing there. It's also home to-"

"Don't tell me. Home to the Dragon Warrior and the Furious Five?"

"The very same!"

"I am a big fan of these guys!"

Suddenly, a roar came out of nowhere and Musaki froze for a second and asked, "What was that?"

All of a sudden, it popped out of nowhere and in comes a lion coming at Musaki, looking angry. He snorted and asked, "What are you doing to my brother?"

"Dude, I didn't do anything-wait, this is your brother?" asked Musaki, in shock.

"Yep. This is my brother, Shing. I'm Kazuo."

Shing growls at Musaki and asked, "Who are you?"

"I'm Musaki. Look, I don't want any trouble. I just..."

"Thought you'd come to trespass us? Well, you might as well think again!"

Shing growls at him and he tries to run, but he took him down on the ground, planning to beat him up when suddenly, he gets pummeled by Arizona and he looks at him and yells, "LEAVE MY FRIEND ALONE!"

Shing pushes him down on the ground and he comes over to him and plans to scratch him, but suddenly Kazuo stops him immediately and looks at Arizona's face and he recognized the scar on his eyebrow and asked, "Is that you, Arizona?"

Arizona looks at him and recognizes the skunk's green eyes and his hair that covers his eye and asked, "Kazuo?"

"Don't you remember me?"

He gasped in shock and nodded his head and screamed in delight as they reunited again. He chuckled and asked, "How've ya been?"

"Great. You?"

"Wish I could say the same."

Then, Arizona looks at Shing and asked, "Hey, Shing. Is that you?'

Shing looks at Arizona and recognizes that scar on his eye and he was in utter shock and asked, "Hey, buddy! How's it going?"

"Pretty good actually." Arizona replied, with a chuckle.

Musaki got up, dusted himself off and asked, "Arizona, you know these guys?"

"Yeah, these are my old friends Kazuo and Shing. I used to sneak out at night to meet them and at any moment, the wolf guards take me back to the tower and I get beaten everytime."

"That's brutal."

"Yes, but I was used to it though it still hurts."

"So did they know you're out?" asked Kazuo.

"For now. This guy brought me out of there."

Kazuo and Shing looked at Musaki and all he could is just wave at them and Kazuo asked, "You got him out of there?"

"Yep."

Kazuo comes up to him and gave him a hug and said, "We haven't seen him around for 6 years and you brought him here? That is an awesome thing you did!"

Shing looked at me and Musaki already grew scared and told him, "Sorry I tried to attack you."

The nervousness died down quickly and said, "It's cool."

"My brother doesn't really take well with new friends. He's kinda protective of me at times." Kazuo explained.

"How did you guys get to be brothers anyway?"

"Well, after my parents died when I was a cub, I was a loner for pretty much a year and one day, some of the fox thieves were going after this little skunk and I went in and defended him and they ran away. He grew easily attached to me and once he hugged my leg, it brought me to a point where no one actually cared for him, so I decided to take him in as my little brother and we've been tight ever since."

"Wow. That's really amazing."

"Yeah, I gotta say he's the best thing for a brother, even though he can be a little crazy."

"Look who's talking." Kazuo added.

Then, another rustle came in the bush and Kazuo asked, "What was that?"

"Get behind me." Shing added.

He got behind Kazuo's tail and Musaki went in to see where it came from and as he peeked into the bushes, a pair of hazel eyes stared at him, which made him jump out of his skin and fell down on the ground.

"Yeah, that's definitely you." a voice came out.

Suddenly, he popped up and Musaki stared at him and recognized the person in the bushes.

"Cody?"

Cody chuckled, waved at him and said, "Hey, Musaki."

"What are you doing here?"

"Well, Master Shifu sent us to keep an eye on you while you're on your mission."

"Us?"

Then, more of his cousins came over as they popped out of the bush and said, "Hey, Musaki."

"Samurai? Tsunami? Phoenix?"

"Boy, some plan. I didn't expect to find that many people here." Tsunami said.

"Well, I think it's cool that way. Action, adventure, drama, suspense, tragedy-" Phoenix said, before being cut off by Samurai.

"The part where you shut up is suspenseful." Samurai added.

"Sorry. I had a little moment."

"Okay, here's the 'suspenseful question'-how did you guys find me?" asked Musaki.

"We kinda saw you walking by the side of the mountain and we foudn your camping spot, but we didn't want to be noticed so we hid under here." Tsunami answered.

"Does your dad know?"

"Shifu told him about your mission and figured that you might need a little back-up. Plus, we kinda worry about you because you escaped death when you were three with your parents being killed by Tai Lung and we just want to bring you back in one piece after the mission." Cody explained.

"That's a good enough excuse."

"Hey, guys."

And to Musaki's surprise, he sees Zeke coming in behind them and Musaki said, "Hey, Zeke."

"You okay?" asked Zeke.

"Never better."

"Yeah, Master Shifu's idea."

"Too overprotective."

"Well, I wanted to see what it's like for a first time."

Then, Musaki notices a little tiger cub coming in behind Zeke and asked, "Who's he?"

"Oh, this is our new adopted brother Max. He lived here with us for a month and we told him everything about you and he just wanted to see his new cousin." Phoenix explained.

Musaki looked at Max, 12 years old, male tiger, grey and orange stripes around him, hazel-brown eyes, 5'2, 132 pounds, wearing black pants with a tan-yellow shirt and has stripes on his eyes as well. Musaki then asked, "So you're my new cousin, huh?"

"Yeah." Max responded.

"Max is a very shy person and dad told me he's been through a lot in his life, like rough upbringings and not being loved at all when he was born, you know." Cody said.

"That's gotta be tough." Arizona said.

Max looks at Arizona and got scared of him and hides behind Musaki. Musaki turns to him and tells him it's okay and that Arizona won't hurt anyone. He comes up to him and said, "Arizona, this is my new cousin Max. Say 'hi.'"

Max became scared due to the fact that he's a wolf. He lets out his hand and Arizona shakes it as well and answered in a gentle voice, "Don't be afraid. I'm not gonna hurt you. I never would...to anyone."

"I thought that...wolves are supposed to kill." Max said, timidly.

"I'm not one of them."

Max's fear of Arizona washed away quickly and hugs him in the legs and Arizona accepts it as he pats him on the back. Musaki became amazed on how he handles kids really well. Then, he sees everyone else and it's a sheer term of embarassment not introducing his cousins to everyone else.

He clears his throat and said, "Sorry. Arizona, these are my cousins; Cody, Tsunami, Samurai and Phoenix."

"Nice to meet you." Cody said.

"Same here to you guys."

"And this is my brother, Zeke."

"How's it going?"

"Great. We've been brothers for a year and a half. We found each other by the way." Zeke added.

"That's cool."

"And these are my new friends; Kazuo and Shing."

"Hey, how are you?" asked Tsunami.

"Pretty good." Kazuo answered.

"Sup?" asked Shing.

"Are they friends?" asked Phoenix.

"Brothers."

The cousins stopped and saw that there was a skunk and a lion, both of them brothers. Cody asked, "Seriously?"

"Is that a problem?" asked Shing.

They could see Shing's teeth gritting and Cody quickly answered, "Not at all."

"Well then, I guess we should get a move on then. If you guys are gonna be here and get back to the Valley of Peace safely."

"My thoughts exactly."

Everyone went around as they went on their way back to the Valley and Musaki asked, "How long did it take you guys to get from the Valley to here?"

"About...5 hours." Cody answered.

"5 hours?"

"No, Codes. A whole day." Phoenix added.

"We might as well get there by boat." Musaki said.

"That's what we did."

"This is gonna be a long day, whatever it might be."

* * *

><p>What adventures would await them? Peril, drama, suspense, angst, friendships...well you get the idea. Anyways, if you got some suggestions for what's gonna happen next, let me know and I'll see what I can do. Laterz!<p> 


	9. Followed

I came up with a new character for this story and it just couldn't get out of my head. Also, what would happen if not only this new character but the rest of the gang somehow got in the middle of being ambushed by Dai Ling's wolf guards? The answer is in this chapter!

* * *

><p>Chapter 9: Followed<p>

On the other side of the forest, another young grey wolf, 14 years old, weighing 158 pounds, 5'8, dark hazel green eyes, wearing only grey and brown tattered torn shorts, has wild spiky hair on his head and with multiple scars on his body-most of them barely visible-ran as quickly as he can trying to lose the wolf guards from following him. Then, he hides in a small bush hoping that they wouldn't find him.

Some of the guards from Dai Ling's army went around looking for him and they managed to pass by the bush that the young wolf was hiding in and he pops out of there, takes a deep breath knowing that the coast is clear and he continues running in another direction.

Meanwhile, Musaki, Arizona, Kazuo, Shing, Max, Cody, Tsunami, Phoenix, Zeke and Samurai walked through the forest to find a boat to ride back to the Valley of Peace and while there, Musaki starts to have a conversation with his cousins, inlcuding his new cousin. He asked, "So Max...how do you like my cousins?"

"Um...they're really nice. Tsunami and Samurai are really awesome to hang with and they look out for me...unlike my real family." Max answered.

"What happened to your real family?" asked Shing.

Max kinda grew silent about it because it might lead to something that he wouldn't consider ready to talk about yet. Musaki recognized that sign and turned to Max and told him, "You don't have to tell us if you don't want to."

"It's kinda hard to discuss it because most times I feel really sad or scared." Max admitted.

"Yeah, I know how you feel."

"We've been telling Max a lot about you, Musaki. Our dad showed him a picture of your dad and ours when they were kids. And also a picture of you and we told them the story about what you've been through and about your parents and how special they are. Max often tells us that he's excited to meet you and wants to know what you're like." Tsunami said.

"That's cool."

"So you were scared of Arizona when you first saw him. If you don't mind my asking, how come you're scared of wolves?" asked Kazuo.

Max turned to Kazuo and replied, "Well...my mother abandoned me with some of the wolves one day and I was so scared that I ws afraid that they'll eat me, so I had to run home by myself. It's been my phobia since."

"What do you think of Arizona?" asked Musaki.

He takes a look at Arizona and remembering the hug he gave him, he said, "He seems nice. Not many wolves are this nice like him."

Arizona looks at him and all he could do is smile a little and said, "Some wolves are not always that bad or scary. Some of them are really nice...like me. I guess that's why some of the wolf army in the tower never took me seriously and I get chained and beaten for it."

"Why?" asked Zeke.

"I'm different from most wolves."

"Everyone's different in their own ways. You shouldn't feel ashamed or embarassed by it."

"I know, but sometimes Dai Ling's comments really get to me at times and I just look at myself and realize that he's right."

"The only reason why you say that is because you let him think like that. Shouldn't you think for yourself and not for what others think?"

"I try, but I don't know how."

"What if I were to tell you that it's possible that the world can accept you for you and all you have to do is accept it regardless of whatever gets you down?" asked Musaki.

"You think it could happen?"

"It can...unless if you're willing to trust me."

Arizona thought about what Musaki said and he knows that if he continues to live in a world of negaitivity, he'll stay there for the rest of his life. He turns to him and replied, "I guess I'll give it a shot."

"Exactly."

Suddenly, they heard some shouting coming from somewhere and when they turned around, they see another wolf on the edge of a cliff surrounded by Dai Ling's wolf guards. Musaki looks in horror and Arizona exclaimed, "I know that guy! I don't know his name, but I've seen him before! Those wolf guards got him cornered! We gotta do something!"

"Let's go out there and kick their butts!" Musaki exclaimed.

"Musaki, are you serious? We could get caught and they'll drag us all back to the tower!"

"Not if we beat them up! Besides, don't you wanna save that guy?"

Arizona looks over the cliff and figures that maybe it's time to rescue the young wolf and he replied, "Let's do it."

At the cliff's edge, some of the wolf guards surround the young wolf and they growled at him and one said, "You made a big mistake escaping!"

Two of them pushed him down on the ground and beat him in the stomach hard, causing him to groan in agonizing pain. He quickly gets up and angrily told them, "I don't wanna go back with you!"

One guard grabs him by the neck and said, "You got no other choice!"

Suddenly, one of the guards received a punch from behind and fell down on the ground and in comes Musaki saying, "Well, we meet again."

"Hey, it's the intruder!"

A few went in after him and immediately punched them in the face and kicked them in the groins. One went after Arizona and he got out of the way and fell into the water and another went in after him and Arizona punched him straight in the mouth. Then some Musaki's cousins managed to use their kung-fu skills to aim it at them as well as Shing and Kazuo.

"Retreat!" the wolf guard bellowed.

They all got out of the cliff's edge after being attacked by Musaki and his crew. After that, Arizona went up to the young wolf and he recognized him by the multiple scars on his face and asked, "You're that guy who's been beaten everyday at the tower, haven't you?"

The young wolf groaned in agony, slowly looks at Arizona and replied, "Yeah, that's me."

"You all right?"

"Yeah, I'm cool."

He tries to get up and Arizona sees that he's hurt really bad and asked, "What are you doing out here?"

"I saw you and your panda friend escaping the tower last night and I thought that maybe I should get out too. But I was being followed by the wolf army, making it difficult for me to be unseen and unheard."

"That was very risky."

"Yeah, I know, but I'm just tired of being beaten by those jerks and Dai Ling as well and being able to suffer through it! I just want to escape and find some peace."

"Well, you'll find it here with us." Musaki added.

The young wolf stared at Musaki and he asked, "You're the young panda who got Arizona out?"

"Yeah that's me."

"How'd you know my name?" asked Arizona.

"I guess I've seen you pass by the prison cells and when you bring food to the other prisoners and in a room in another part of the tower and I keep hearing your name being called a lot and seeing you get tormented. It's like another part of myself is shown."

"Didn't know that. I never really got your name though."

"I'm Ruiz. Tai Ruiz."

"Tai Ruiz?"

"Yeah, but everyone else just calls me Ruiz."

"Okay, Ruiz. These are my new friends-Cody, Tsunami, Max, Phoenix, Samurai, Zeke and Musaki. He's the one that brought me out of the tower."

Ruiz came up to Musaki and said, "I've been told that someone would bring Arizona out and the fact that you brought him out...takes a special friend."

"Well, thanks very much."

"So what's with the name Tai Ruiz?" asked Cody.

"Tai means that I'm originally from Thailand, so I'm kinda half Chinese and half Thailand. My birth mother named me Ruiz because it was inspired by her teacher's name and my father's from Thailand."

"That's amazing." Kazuo answered.

"Also, these are my old friends-Kazuo and Shing." Arizona said.

"Nice to meet you." Shing answered.

"Same here. So, where are you guys heading now?"

"The Valley of Peace." Musaki answered.

"Why there?"

"Well, I kinda had a mission to bring Arizona out of the tower and bring him there so he can live in peace."

"Can I come too?"

"Sure thing. Hopefully, my mission task will be complete."

"It's his first rescue mission." Tsunami said.

"That's amazing." Ruiz said.

"Amazing to know that it'll be the LAST mission you'll ever have!"

Suddenly, they hear another growl coming out of nowhere and they turn around and they see more of Dai Ling's wolf guards coming in and they went backwards until Ruiz almost stepped on the edge of the cliff where the river is and suddenly, he slipped and fell down on the river.

"RUIZ!" Arizona screamed.

"We gotta save him!" Musaki exclaimed.

Arizona jumped out of the cliff along with everyone else and just when the wolf guards thought they were finished, one looks down and sees a phoenix bird pop out of nowhere, saving the others. He lets out a huge squawk and fire comes out of them, causing the wolf guards to retreat yet again.

The crimson bird flies away and Arizona looks down and sees they they're flying and the crimson bird looks at them and asked, "You all okay?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Arizona replied.

"Um, who are you?" asked Musaki.

"I'm Suazku. What's yours?"

"I'm Musaki and these are my friends Arizona, Ruiz, Kazuo and Shing and my cousins Max, Cody, Tsunami, Samurai and my brother Zeke."

"Nice to meet all of you."

"Same here." Tsunami added.

Suazku flies back to their place along with some other creatures; a blue dragon, a white tiger and a black tortoise coming in and one said, "Hey, Suzaku. What's up?"

"Just rescued some weary travelers from wolf guards." Suazku answered.

They went out of his back and the white tiger looks at Musaki and said, "The name's Byakko."

"I'm Musaki."

"You guys are lucky that Suzaku save you. We could watch from the hill."

"You could?"

"Yep."

"That's amazing."

* * *

><p>vampire1031 wanted me to add these guys in. So, what do you think? Was that action-y enough for ya? There's more on the way!<p> 


	10. Wisdom of Friendship

This is where the meaning of friendship sinks in to Arizona really deeply.

* * *

><p>Chapter 10: Wisdom of Friendship<p>

Musaki looks at all of them and asked, "Who are you guys?"

"I'm Suzaku and this is Genbu, Seriyuu and Byakko. We're the four celestial guardians."

He looks at all of them and waved at them and Musaki waved them back and said, "Thanks for saving us."

"What were you guys doing out here?" asked Byakko.

"We were planning on getting back to the Valley of Peace. My master Shifu gave me a mission to bring Arizona to live in the Jade Palace and bring him out of that tower." Musaki answered.

"Master Shifu? The Grand Master Shifu?" asked Genbu, excitedly.

"Yep, that's the one."

"Okay, that has to be the coolest thing ever."

"It is. But it's the first time I've ever done this on my own without the Furious Five and the Dragon Warrior."

Seriyuu looked at him and asked, "You're nervous, I see."

"About what?"

"Worrying that without them around, it wouldn't be accomplished."

It's like someone popped into Musaki's mind and already knew his fear of not accomplishing his first solo mission. He stares at him and asked, "How'd you think that?"

"You might say I'm wiser than everyone else."

"So you say." Byakko said.

Arizona walked up to Musaki and said, "Hey, you really think we can do this?"

"Go back to the Jade Palace? Of course. Anything it takes to get out out of the darkness you've been trapped in."

Seriyuu heads over to Arizona and sees Ruiz walking in and said, "You two must know each other, right?"

They looked at each other and Ruiz responded, "Well, Arizona always gives me food even though Dai Ling forbids it and I wish I could like talk to him, but I was too scared to because I've been beaten or kept off by Dai Ling's guards."

"I see."

"So, I guess the time I actually met him was today when he and some others saved me from the guards."

"Oh, it looks like a friendship must be brewing. You know, we all consider ourselves legends."

The word caught everyone's mind and asked, "Legends?"

"We've been around for years, since the dawn of time." Suzaku explained.

"We've been the celestial guardians for a number of years, defending the good in the world and protect each other and others for those who doesn't accept anyone. We stick together no matter what and most times, friendships are those that stick with you by your side no matter what situation you may face." Seriyuu said.

They fell silent for a while and those words quickly made an impact on Arizona because he's been without a friend for so long and that loneliness and pain from his past has been harboring him deep inside of him. He shuddered sharply and Musaki stared at him and asked, "You okay, Arizona?"

"Yeah..just give me a minute."

Arizona gets himself up and walks off collecting himself for a second. Musaki grew concerned for him and said, "I'd better go see if he's okay."

"Sure thing." Byakko nodded.

Musaki gets up for a second to check on Arizona and Genbu watches him walking by and said, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that your words stuck to Arizona deeply."

"Those who never had a friend before and is experiencing it for the first time, it will grow stronger like never before." Seriyuu said.

"I always thought those things happen." Suzaku added.

"They do. That Musaki seems to be a good friend to everyone."

"He's always like that. Those that understand my cousin really well, he's always selfless, friendly and awesome to be around." Tsunami added.

"That and because he rocks at kung-fu." Zeke retorted.

"That too."

Musaki heads inside the cave to find Arizona and he hears someone crying there. He walks by and to his surprise, it was Arizona. He quietly sits down next to him and asked, "You okay?"

Arizona let out a few choked sobs and he couldn't face him because he didn't want to see him cry and replied, "I've never heard someone say things like that to me before."

"I know how you feel. I never had any friends when I was in an orphanage until I was six or seven. I had a few friends, but after two years they were adopted and I felt so many loneliness and emptiness inside of me. But when I got adopted in the Jade Palace, it feels as if I can rely on them for anything and they were the ones who brought me out of the dark hole I was in and because of that, I was reunited with my old friends and it helped me make some new ones."

Arizona asked, "You've been lonely before?"

"10 full years. By age three till thirteen after my parents died."

"How do you relate to this? Your parents never abandoned you."

"No they haven't, but after they died, I always thought they did but sometimes things like this happen for a reason. We might not know why, but we can't let our past define who you are now."

Arizona sighed heavily and Musaki saw his tear falling down on his face and said, "Sometimes...I feel alone in this world and that Dai Ling told me that no one would accept me because I'm not like other wolves. Not even any other species in the world would accept someone like me."

Musaki puts his hand on Arizona's shoulder and told him, "I would."

"What Seriyuu said earlier, it just...dawned on me knowing that I need someone who will stand by me and I missed out on that."

"Well hey, this is just the beginning. All you have to do is just trust me and all the other stuff will come along."

Arizona sighed again and then, he slowly turns to Musaki and to Musaki's surprise, he actually saw tears come out of his eyes. Musaki comes out and gave him a hug and Arizona cried on his shoulders.

"It's okay to cry." Musaki said.

"Dai Ling said it makes me weak."

"Forget what he said. It's a good way to let everything out when you feel sad, lonely or whatever you're feeling. It's okay to let it out."

Arizona definitely felt like this is the friend he's been waiting for in so long. He sighed sadly and said, "I do need one."

They were unaware that Ruiz is watching this happen. His eyes grew all misty-eyed and then the tears start flowing and it fell down to his face. It's like nothing he ever felt before and he wants to know what being a friend is like.

Musaki and Arizona stood up and walked out of the cave and they saw Ruiz standing there and Musaki asked, "You okay?"

Ruiz quickly wiped his eyes and said, "I'm fine."

"You were crying, weren't you?" asked Musaki.

"How can you tell?"

"The tears gave it away."

He sighed and said, "Okay, maybe I was. I just heard the whole conversation and I've never heard anything like that. Dai Ling told me that friendship is weak and that the world doesn't care about wolves like us and he calls me..."

"Ugly?" asked Arizona.

"Yeah, how'd you...?"

"He called me that too."

"You think you guys ain't the only ones? When I was young, I've been called ugly at the orphanage. The problem is that they judge us but they never know who we really are." Musaki explained.

What Musaki said really clicked Arizona and Ruiz and it definitely brought them something new in their lives. Ruiz asked, "So, who are we really?"

"We're just people, like everyone else."

They walked out of the cave and caught up with the others and they all started to explain everything about themselves and later on, they see most of the members head back to their cave.

"If you need us, just hold this amulet up in the sky and we'll be there." Byakko said.

Byakko gives the amulet to Musaki and puts it on his neck and said, "Thanks."

"Good journey to you all." Seriyuu said.

"Thanks."

Everyone said their goodbyes and went on their separate ways and they continued on their journey. Cody looks at the amulet and said, "That is super-awesome that amulet."

"I like it too." Musaki replied.

Arizona looks at Musaki and he feels something he's never had before...being loved and accepted for who he is. He's never had a friend like him before and he's hoping that it'll stay this way forever.

"Hey, you okay?" asked Musaki.

"Uh...yeah, I'm cool."

Musaki chuckled and said, "Come on, man. Let's go."

Arizona followed them the rest of the way and he knows that the journey there will be more challenging than ever before, but he knows that whatever it is, he will have Musaki by his side.

* * *

><p>That seems pretty awesome, right? The four celestial guardians...vampire1031's suggestion. He let me use it in the chapter. Thanks, man! Arizona and Musaki are gonna grow to be really good friends. Next chapter will be dramatic and awesome! Not gonna give much away, but let's just say Musaki will defend Arizona.<p> 


	11. Defending

Time to show how true friendship will play out. Musaki defends Arizona after hearing him say some harsh words and hurtful comments about him. Let's see how this will go.

* * *

><p>Chapter 11: Defending<p>

The gang continues walking their way into the forest, planning on getting a boat back to the Valley of Peace. Most of the others were shaken up about the sudden ambush they faced with Dai Ling's wolf guards but Arizona was the most shaken up for two reasons; that he saw Ruiz being surrounded by the guards or the rest of the gang being surrounded by the guards as well.

Musaki looks at Arizona and asked, "Hey, are you okay?"

Arizona stares at him and he sees him being concerned and answered, "I'm...I'm fine."

"You sure? You seem shaken up about something."

Arizona sighed heavily and said, "After what happened earlier with Ruiz, I have a feeling that the wolf guards might be coming back for us."

"Not if we escape from here. All we have to do is find the boat and then ride back to the Valley of Peace. That way, we'll be so far away, they wouldn't even try to get us."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

Halfway through, they walked through the mountains and not long, they heard some purring and snarling from behind. Cody leaped up and asked, "What was that?"

"I don't know. It sounded like it was coming from..." Musaki started, then looks up and sees a few black jaguars coming down to the ground, surrounding them.

"Up there."

One black jaguar with red eyes come in at Musaki and said, "You made a terrible choice coming in our turf."

"Look, we don't want any trouble. We're just passing through your turf and..."

"You've got trouble coming in!"

"Dude, we're just passing through so let us get out of your way."

The lead jaguar stopped Musaki on his tracks and said, "When you pass through our turf, you get death!"

"Hey, you leave my cousin alone!" Tsunami yelled out.

The lead jaguar snarled at him and pushed him down to the ground. Musaki gasped in shock and said, "Okay, that's hitting way too far!"

He comes in behind him and plans to take him down for Tsunami and then the jaguars pummel him down and pushed him down to the ground. Arizona comes in front of Musaki and angrily bellowed, "You leave Musaki alone!"

The jaguar looks at Arizona and asked, "What, is he your friend?"

All of the other jaguars laughed at him and made fun of Arizona for defending a panda and one told him, "Why would a wolf like you be friends with a panda?"

"Yeah, shouldn't you be howling at the moon?" another one said.

"Stop it!" Arizona yells.

"Who would make friends with an ugly, disgusting, useless monster like you? You don't even deserve to live!"

"I bet his face looks so ugly, he could let all the species scream and run away from him!"

"Yeah, you're a freak! That's all you are...a big, ugly, hideous useless freak!"

"SHUT UP!" Arizona screamed.

All of the other jaguars continued to torment him and the lead jaguar said, "Why don't you kill yourself because of your ugliness? The world will never be friends with a skinny, ugly looking wolf like you!"

Musaki stood up and saw Arizona feeling hurt by those negative comments they gave him and he got really mad and went up to them and said, "Why don't you just shut up and leave him alone? Just because he's a wolf doesn't mean that he's a monster!"

"Oh, what do you know?"

"You think just because he's different gives you the sense to bully him? You don't even know him and yet you're calling him a monster? How would **_YOU_** like it if some random stranger called you that?"

"We wouldn't care because we don't care about who's feelings we hurt."

"You just don't get it, do ya? You think it's cool that you would say these things to Arizona? Well, it's not! He's my best friend and I would be friends with him regardless of what you think! So maybe you guys should beat it before I land your skulls underneath my sais!"

Musaki didn't think they'd back down, but he held up the sais in his hand to let him know that he's serious. They growled at him and the rest of the jaguars went their ways. Musaki sighed heavily as he puts his sais back on his bag and Samurai went up and said, "Yeah, you better run! You would've gotten a dose of Sam-u-rai!"

Samurai made some punches in the air and kung-fu kicks, making some kung-fu noises and Musaki just rolled his eyes a little and when Samurai turns around and sees his cousin glaring at him, he slowly stops and just chuckled nervously.

"Sam...are you through embarassing yourself?" asked Musaki.

"Now I am."

He rolls his eyes at his cousins, then turns around and finds that Arizona is missing. He asked, "Where's Arizona?"

"I just saw him run off." Cody answered.

He told them to stay put as he goes off to find Arizona. When he got there, he sees him sitting down on a boulder, just crying. He slowly walks up to him and asked, "You okay?"

Arizona kept sobbing uncontrollably and he tried to find the words to say about what happened. He sniffled and whispered, "Why did you do that?"

"Do what?"

Arizona looked at him with tears coming out of his eyes and said with his voice breaking, "No one's ever stood up for me before."

"Well, I wouldn't just let anyone get away with what they said to you. It's just not right being teased because they're different."

"It's just that...I've never been defended by anyone."

Musaki's eyes widened as he was surprised to hear what Arizona said that no one ever came to his defense and asked, "Never?"

"Never. I've never had any friends besides Kazuo and Shing. But I've never had a best friend before because Dai Ling thinks a wolf like me won't accept me because I'm ugly."

"Don't say that. Don't say things like that. You're not ugly."

Arizona lets out a tear coming out of his eye and asked, "What am I?"

"You're a good person deep inside. I know you've been through a lot, but you can't let those things get you down. And you have a good heart."

Arizona suddenly feels something warm inside of him. He holds his chest and he felt something he never felt before...a warm heart. He turns to Musaki and said, "I've never felt anything like this before."

"What do you feel?"

"Like...I found...a best friend."

Musaki smiled at him and said, "And don't let anyone say get you down because you are who you are and don't be ashamed of it. Be proud of it."

"But would you really be friends with someone like me?"

"Yes, I would. I don't see any of those things that Dai Ling or what those stupid jaguars just said to you. What I see is a good person that was filled with suffering but someone will help him see past that and that he's willing to be there for you and tell you that he will be right here no matter what."

"Who's that person?"

"You're looking at him."

Arizona looks at Musaki and realizes that he's talking about himself. He closed his eyes and comes up to him and gives him a hug. He broke down crying on his shoulder and whispered, "Thank you...for giving me a chance."

"You're welcome."

Arizona got up and he kept wiping his tears and then looked at Musaki with a few tears in his eyes and let out a smile. Musaki smiled too and they walked back to catch up with the rest of the gang together.

"You know...this may be the beginning of an awesome friendship." Musaki said.

"Thanks for defending me." Arizona said, tearfully.

"Anytime."

* * *

><p>Now was that awesome or was that awesome? Stick around for more!<p> 


	12. Rough Backgrounds

We start getting to know a little more about Arizona and Ruiz and their beginnings...are not exactly happy ones.

* * *

><p>Chapter 12: Rough Backgrounds<p>

Later on as the night started to fall, the gang decided to set up camp because most of them were tired and needed a rest because it'll take days when they get back to the Valley of Peace. Then, Musaki made another campfire and everyone gathered around, talking and laughing.

"...Cody was so scared, he went back to the house and here's the twist-he had no pants on!" Tsunami exclaimed.

Everyone but Cody were laughing at that story and even Musaki was laughing hysterically about that and asked, "Seriously, Codes? Did that really happen?"

Cody was blushing with embarassment and said, "Yeah, but it was because him and Samurai were trying to scare me with that dragon mask."

"You gotta admit...it was pretty funny." Phoenix snickered.

"So, how did that happen exactly?" asked Kazuo.

"Well, he was taking swim outside to cool off a little and we thought that we might mess with him a little. So me and Tsunami got our halloween masks, snuck around the pond and to our surprise, his shorts was laying on the ground and we just scared him and he ran back to the house screaming like a girl." Samurai explained.

"He was like, 'eeeeeek!' and ran back with no pants." Tsunami said, holding his laughter.

Cody scoffs and said, "You're lucky that dad didn't see that."

"Yeah, but Phoenix was laughing hysterically when he saw you."

Phoenix started guffawing loudly and said, "It totally made my day..or night."

Max started chuckling a little and said, "You guys are funny."

"We're always like that."

Zeke chuckled and said, "I wish me and Musaki would've seen that."

"Yeah, that would've been funnier." Musaki agreed.

"Well, this was before we met you guys." Samurai added.

"That's amazing, though."

Musaki went into his bag and brought out some food and asked, "Anyone want some bean buns?"

"Oh yeah, the famous bean buns." Phoenix said.

Everyone passed a plate around to give them some bean buns and some other snacks Musaki gave them. Arizona looks at it for the first time and starts eating it and suddenly, he started to like it.

"This is really good." Arizona said.

"You like?"

"I've never tried anything like this before."

"You haven't?"

"No. Only things I eat are just things I cook myself."

"You cook?"

"Yeah, Arizona's an awesome cook. He makes noodles mostly." Ruiz explains.

"Really?"

"Yeah, but it's nothing special really." Arizona added.

"You should taste Po's cooking. It is straight-up the best thing you'll ever put in your mouth."

"I guess I'll give it a shot."

Arizona was curious to know a few things about Musaki that he's never known before and he asked him, "Musaki, I kinda want to know a few things about you. I never had the chance to because we escaped from the tower, so what do I need to know about you?"

Musaki knew that one was coming. He clears his throat and said, "Well, before I lived in the Jade Palace, I used to live in Shanghai Secluded Valley where I spent my first three years of being born with my parents. By the time I was three, my parents were killed by Tai Lung and my life has been full of sadness and sorrow since then and I spent 10 years secluding myself in the Bao Gu Orphanage in the Valley of Peace because I was super-worried and also scared that someone would adopt me in their family because they weren't in the same species as I am and I would be afraid of being rejected by others and I get bullied by most of the kids, most of them don't care if they get adopted or even have a family. I had a few friends for two and a half years until they got adopted and the feeling of loneliness comes back in again because no one would accept me because I'm too skinny or ugly. My guardians and the caretaker helped me see past all of that and because of that, I've done extraordinary things; like play the flute, play guitar and piano and do some kung-fu. When I turned 13, I got adopted by Master Shifu, the Five and The Dragon Warrior and since then, I've been regaining my happiness and a lot of things happened to me in my life the past three years-I got to meet some new friends, see some old friends, people from my childhood, meet my relatives, reunite with my twin brother and everything in between. if it wasn't for whatever happened 13 years ago, none of this would be possible."

Musaki's cousins and Zeke weren't surprised about how far he's come but Kazuo, Shing, Arizona and Ruiz were definitely surprised about hearing Musaki's story and it really made them realize that though Musaki had a difficult past, he got through it really well.

Arizona blinked a few times and whispered, "Wow."

Musaki turned to Arizona and sees his eyes lowering down like something was wrong and asked, "You okay?"

"Um...yeah. I..I actually relate to that story because my past was different than yours."

"How different?"

"Well...I had a rough, violent and sorrowful childhood. After my father abandonded me, Dai Ling kinda took me in but he never really cared much for me. Most of my life, I've been beaten, abused and judged by him. I was different from other wolves because most of them are vicious and they howl at a full moon. Me, on the other hand...I only howl at a new moon because most wolves see a dark moon and we get into arguments about it and it ends up being violent. It brought me to a point where Dai Ling told me that no one outside of this world will accept me because I'm ugly and I'm like a monster and most of the wolf army makes fun of me and the gorilla army hates my guts, so I'm like an outsider of the group. You might wonder why I have this scar on my face. Dai Ling scratched my face after I snuck out one night because I can't take being at that tower and that was the result of it. There were so many nights where I would just ask myself, 'What did I do wrong?' or 'How come I don't feel loved?' and Dai Ling told me that love is a stupid thing because no one would be friends or even love someone like me. So the only way to get through this was to just cut myself all over my arms saying things like 'worthless', 'ugly', 'disgusting' and I looked at myself in the mirror and just hated myself everyday because the world won't accept someone who's ugly like me."

Hearing Arizona's story, Musaki felt like it was really painful for him to hear all of this and he said, "You actually believe that?"

"Yeah."

"You're not all of those things Dai Ling says you are."

"He told me never trust anyone who says these things to you because they lie."

"Dude, you're a good person. There's nothing you can do or say to change everything about yourself."

"Take it from Musaki. We've all been there before but what keeps us going is that we feel the same way. We just accept ourselves for who we are no matter what anyone thinks." Zeke said.

"And you're not a monster. We all know you're a cool person." Tsunami said, comforting him.

Ruiz looked over and he lowers his head down and starts crying. Musaki looks over at him and asked, "You okay, Ruiz?"

Ruiz only sniffled and let out a few choked sobs and said, "I've never heard of Arizona's story that way."

"It's really damaging."

"But mine is much more sadder than that. After both my parents died when I was a newborn cub, my uncle Jako abused me so many times and then Dai Ling comes in and attacks my uncle and he could sense that he is weak and he doesn't care for people who are weak and before he killed my uncle, he tells me that he loves me and asked me to forgive him. After he died, I did forgave him and I promised myself I would defeat Dai Ling myself and I used an aura to transform myself to my uncle. Over the 14 years I've been on the earth after both my parents and my uncle died, I've been mentally, verbally and physically abused by Dai Ling and he used his whip and hammer to beat me all over my body, leaving behind permanent scars and wounds, even some in my face and in both eyes. He often tells me that I'm not good enough because of the way I look and that he thinks I'm weak and I can't protect the ones I care and no one in the world would love and accept me for me. It just...brought me into depression for so long that I can't trust anyone and I had so much anger built into me, like punching holes in the walls, blaming myself for all the crap I've been through and watching other people outside of the tower, including little children, suffer and die because of how the wolf guards treat them. It just makes me feel helpless knowing that I can't do anything to save them because of Dai Ling. And I spend...every freakin' night thinking what have I done to deserve this? It's just...not fair, you know? All I wanted...is to be loved and accepted by anyone."

It brought Arizona to tears and he never knew anything about Ruiz that way. He figured he had a rough past, but he didn't think it was that rough. Ruiz started crying and suddenly, Arizona went up to him and gave him a hug.

"I know how you feel, especially with not being able to save anyone out there suffering for no reason. The scary thing about that is that I get nightmares of innocent people dying outside. I can't...I can't fall asleep just thinking about that if it keeps playing in my head." Arizona said, in tears.

Almost everyone was in tears and Musaki felt deeply emotional and could feel both of those wolves' pain about what they went through. He blinked a few times and asked, "You guys have been through a lot, have you?"

"Yeah."

"Well, you have friends now...friends that will always be there for you when everything goes wrong."

Cody wiped his eyes and said, "Yeah, we were taught by our dad that sometimes when you see someone suffer, all you have to do is just help them and give them love. Caring is not a weakness, it only makes you stronger."

"I never knew you've been through those things." Shing added.

"And Shing and I have been through worse things than that before we met each other." Kazuo explained.

"I wanna make you guys a promise...when we get to the Valley of Peace, you will feel a sense of peace and stability and most importantly, you'll feel safe." Musaki said.

Arizona and Ruiz looked at Musaki and then each other and Ruiz responded, "You're a good friend, Musaki."

"I've only know you for a few hours, but it feels like you're one of us."

"He's a good person." Samurai added.

"And that's why we're lucky to have him as our cousin." Tsunami said.

"Well, you guys are like family. Given the fact that you are family."

"That's true."

"And you guys will be a part of it."

Arizona looked at Musaki and said, "Thank you..."

"And we're strong enough to handle anything. Nothing can break this bond...not even Dai Ling."

"That's right."

Everyone kept talking around the campfire and they know that tomorrow will be yet another big challenge, but they know for a fact that they will accomplish it and Musaki will accomplish his mission and make not only his family, but himself really proud.

* * *

><p>Sad moments, huh? But at least they have each other. I hope it wasn't too cheesy, but then again, I love to make their backgrounds a little interesting with rough upbringings. Kinda brings out the angsty side. There's more coming up, so stick around.<p> 


	13. Learning How to Trust

We start out with Arizona's worst nightmare and end it with Musaki teaching Arizona and Ruiz both learning to trust others and kung-fu. You'll see what i mean.

* * *

><p>Chapter 13: Learning How to Trust<p>

Later that night, everyone fell asleep in their tents and Arizona slept in his own tent, but he was tossing and turning, groaning in his sleep meaning that he's having a nightmare brewing inside his head.

"No...no...Musaki...please...please don't die...leave him alone..."

* * *

><p><em>Nightmare<em>

_Arizona runs around parts of Kong Wolf City and sees every person in the city dying everywhere and to his shock, he just watched it happen. He kept running as he sees every wolf-young and old-getting killed in the process. Blood was coming out of their bodies, screams were heard everywhere, dead bodies were in the streets, fire was burning all around the buildings, bodies being burned on the ground and suddenly, Dai Ling became the mastermind of this carnage._

_Then, he turns around and hears someone scream and to add more horror, the person was Musaki. He tries to stop the wolves from stabbing him, but it was too late. His body was on the ground and blood was coming out. He runs up to him and Musaki stared at him, saying, "Why did you let me die? I thought...I thought you were my friend."_

_He coughs and blood starts coming out of his mouth and then, he dies. Arizona covers his mouth, tries to revive him and said, "No...please. Musaki, don't do this to me!"_

_The tears start coming out of his face and then, out of nowhere, he sees Ruiz, Musaki's cousins and his friends Shing and Kazuo getting killed and hanged all over. The screams of them made Arizona feel scared and helpless and when it was all over, he walks up to all of them and sees their body parts sliced off all over the ground._

_And then, every other wolf was killed as well, which made Arizona feel so helpless and it felt like he was dying inside. He gets down on his knees and burst out crying. Tears were coming out of his face and screamed, "WHY?"_

* * *

><p>Reality<p>

Arizona screamed out loud as he woke up and pants heavily and then turns around, sees himself still in the tent. He figured that it was all a dream, but it was a very scary thing for him. He sighed heavily and tried to get back to sleep, but then he heard someone come in the tent.

"Arizona, you okay?"

He turns around and sees Musaki coming in the tent and Arizona sighed in relief and told him, "Yeah. I...I had a nightmare."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"You wanna... tell me about it? I understand if you don't."

"Actually, I do."

Both Arizona and Musaki went out of the tent and began to talk while they were sitting on a rock and Arizona tearfully explained to him about the nightmare he had. Musaki took a deep breath and said, "That must've been a horrible nightmare."

"It has. Most times, I would see visions of bodies being burned and most of them were little cubs losing their lives and it haunts me to watch them suffer, knowing that Dai Ling thinks caring shows weakness."

Musaki could see the sadness in Arizona's eyes and puts his hand on his shoulder and said, "You can't let anything Dai Ling says get to you."

"I know. I just...I just need some help."

"And you will. You just have to trust people...including me."

Arizona sniffled a little and said, "Okay."

"And don't feel helpless. You said that you don't want to see young people suffer, including children. It shows me that you do care for others. That shouldn't be a weakness because it gives you strength."

"You think so?"

"I know so."

He nodded and agreed to what Musaki said and went back to his tent for the rest of the night. For the first time in Arizona's life, he finally found someone to call his friend and he lets out a single tear and went to sleep.

The next day, the rest of the gang gathered around for a while and Musaki explained to them that they're gonna do a trust method to show the person that they have your back.

Musaki told them, "So in order to know someone's got your back, one has to fall down and the other person catches them, thus showing that they trust you."

"You sure about this?" asked Ruiz.

"Of course. There's nothing to it. See, watch me."

He calls Cody up and he gets behind him and starts to fall and Cody catches him immediately. He gets back up and said, "Nothing to it."

He then calls out Arizona and Tsunami and has Arizona doing the same method and Tsunami caught him and then they reversed it and Tsunami falls down but ends up missing the catch and ends up falling to the ground. He looks up and exclaims, "Dude! You were supposed to catch me when I fall!"

Arizona looks down and said, "Sorry, dude. I was just..."

Tsunami gets up and said, "Come on. You think too much, dude."

Musaki steps in and said, "What happened?"

"I thought I had him, but I guess I was thinking too much."

"You have to catch them to keep them from falling, otherwise you wouldn't be able to count on the person that's got your back."

"Okay."

"Let's try again, this time at least be focused."

Arizona took a deep breath and decided to try it again. Tsunami gets from behind and then falls down, but Arizona was quick catch him on the spot. Then he brings him back on his feet and Tsunami said, "Good catch."

"Thanks."

"Awesome work, Zona!" Musaki exclaimed.

Arizona looked confused and asked, "Zona?"

"Yeah. Have you had a nickname before?"

"Never."

"We should give you one like...Zona, Ariz, Ari-Z."

Arizona chuckled softly and said, "How about Z?"

"I like that. So, should we do more?"

Before long, everyone else started getting the program of the trust fall and before long, everyone seemed to have gotten the trust they have no matter what. Not long, they went on their way and Arizona was curious about Musaki's kung-fu back at the jail tower and asked, "Hey, Musaki. How'd you do these Kung-fu moves?"

"Training, dude. I've been training kung-fu most of my life by my father and it gradually caught my interest, whereas in the Jade Palace where I always train everyday."

"How often do you train?"

"All day."

"Think you can give me a few samples?"

"Sounds like you're taking an interest at this, huh?"

"Yeah. Dai Ling doesn't want me to do kung-fu because it's a waste of life."

Everyone but Ruiz just gasped in shock and Musaki was stunned at what he just said and said, "Oh, really? Next time you see him, give him some of the kung-fu."

"How? I don't know how to do this kind of thing."

"Don't worry. You know what kung-fu is, right?"

"Yeah, excellence in self."

"Exactly. Be the best you can be."

"Think you can teach me, too?" asked Ruiz.

"Sure thing."

Musaki went to a little area near the mountains along with Ruiz and Arizona and gave them a few pointers. Musaki shows them a few moves of his own, which involves kicking, punching, jumping around with his body, stretching, backflips and other various moves he's gotten.

"Whoa..." was all Arizona and Ruiz could say.

"How long did it take you to learn these things?" asked Ruiz.

"About 14 years."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"You're kidding."

"Nope. I just throw in my version of kung-fu and as I got older, I decided to mesh breakdancing and kung-fu and believe it or not, they go really great."

"I could never do things like that." Arizona added.

"You never know unless you try. Just do what I do."

Musaki went in combat stance mode and both Arizona and Ruiz followed suit and all three of them made some tai chi moves, moving around their legs and arms, jumping in a kung-fu stance, swinging and everything in between. All of his cousins watched in awe when they saw this happening and Ruiz and Arizona showed off their moves on their own and pretty much got the hang of it.

The rest of them cheered for them and Kazuo said, "You guys are good."

"We never really thought of things like that." Ruiz said.

"Trust me, it takes years to master those moves but you get them as quickly as you can kinda like Po did." Musaki said.

"I'm kinda excited to meet this Po." Arizona said.

"Oh yeah, he's a cool dude...when he doesn't crush your neck to death with his hugs."

"Does he really?" asked Ruiz.

"Trust us when we say if Po hugs you and he's a big dude, you could feel like you can't breathe at all." Phoenix said.

Everyone continued to make their way to finding a boat back to the Valley of Peace, unaware that a pair of wolves were watching them the whole time. One wolf guard snarled at them and whispered, "You're mine..."

* * *

><p>Uh-oh! That's not a good sign. But that was just a little teaser of what's gonna happen in the 'Ambush' scene. Just be patient with the next chapter and after that one, then we'll have the ambush scene. Until then, laterz!<p> 


	14. Learn to Stand Up for Yourself

The last part of the last chapter is a teaser for what happens next. So, Musaki teaches Arizona and Ruiz something that can really benefit for what happens later in the story...standing up to Dai Ling. This chapter will give you the answer.

* * *

><p>Chapter 14: Learn to Stand Up for Yourself<p>

That night, Musaki made a small sense that something might happen soon and figures that it might have Dai Ling and his wolf comrades involved. He vows to keep moving along with his friends and cousins in order to get back to the Valley of Peace safely.

Arizona could look at Musaki and figures something might be wrong coming up and asked, "What's wrong?"

"For some reason...I kinda have this feeling that we might be ambushed by Dai Ling's guards soon." Musaki answered.

"You serious?" asked Cody.

"Possible. I'm...I'm not sure yet, but it's possible."

Arizona feared the most about this situation and figures that Dai Ling and the wolf guards will have his head and he said, "They'll kill us."

"Who, Dai Ling?" asked Musaki.

"Yeah. And his army."

"No they won't. Besides, you shouldn't have to put up with his lies and evilness. You ought to stand up to him."

"Us, stand up to him? He'll like beat me and Ruiz to death."

"Listen, weren't you guys said that you're tired of living in fear of him as well as being abused everyday?"

"Yeah, we are."

"Then, stand up for yourselves!"

Arizona sighed heavily and he knew that he couldn't take any abuse from the guards and Dai Ling anymore and neither could Ruiz and they reluctantly agreed to give it a shot.

Hours later, Musaki, Ruiz and Arizona went to this huge hill where no one else is around except for the three and Musaki wanted to teach them to stand up for themselves against Dai Ling. Musaki said, "It's very simple. We all know that Dai Ling is a crazy evil dude with no heart and definitely no brain, thinking kindness and love is weak. We all think the exact opposite of that. What was some of the most horrifying moments you remember?"

Arizona shuddered and said, "Tons. One night, I tried to run away, but the guards caught me before I even went out and they dragged me to a cell, all chained up and Dai Ling came at me and just scratched my face and I only had a scar on my eye and then he smacked me in the face with a hammer. It was painful."

"And you, Ruiz?"

"I would be abused by Dai Ling and he would come in every night to just punch me in the face and one night, he went at me in a fueled rage that he would beat me down for a horrible 2 hours and it left me with multiple scars and wounds." Ruiz replied.

"Those are really horrible. But you guys have a chance to stop the madness. So what we'll do is do a little bit of role-playing. This will help you learn how to stand up for yourself. Now I'm gonna be Dai Ling and you be yourselves and I might ask you one of you to do something you're totally against and you have to stand up to me. Remember, this is role-playing, not real life, okay?"

Musaki clears his throat and spoke in a gruff voice, "Arizona! Plan to get rid of this...this...panda immediately!"

Arizona listened in fear and asked, "Kill him?"

"Yes!"

Arizona figured it would be tough, but he actually imagined that voice in his head and something triggered in him to stop this from happening when he faces him someday. So he grew angry and said, "No."

"What did you say?"

"I said 'no.' I will not kill my best friend!"

"You will follow my orders or else you will be sucked in a whole lotta pain!"

"I don't care what you say! Musaki is my best friend and I will not follow your orders!"

"You're weak!"

"Me, weak? You're the one who's weak! All you ever did was make my life miserable for 14 years and I won't take this crap anymore! I'm done doing what you tell me to do and like it or not, caring for others makes me stronger!"

"Okay, freeze. Did you see what happened?" asked Musaki.

"Well, hearing your voice it kinda reminded me of Dai Ling and I just thought if he wanted me to kill you, I wouldn't do it and risk getting screamed at because I know I'm doing the right thing."

"Exactly. So when Dai Ling tells you to do something that you know is wrong, you stand your ground."

Arizona chuckled and said, "Thanks."

"Ruiz, your turn."

Ruiz came in and Musaki repeated the gruff voice and asked, "Where do you think you're going?"

"Nowhere." Ruiz answered, in fear.

"Oh yeah? All of those prisoners there will never live. If you think you care for those people, you're a bigger fool than I thought!"

"What do you know?"

"Look at them. They're worthless, savage."

"They're just innocent people."

"Like I care! You will not have anything to do with them!"

"SHUT UP!"

"What did you say?"

"You heard me! I'm sick of you putting me down, abusing me year after year and calling me a freak! You're the real freak in this! You don't even know these people because you're judging them because of who they are and you got them locked up like wild animals! I'm not gonna let you watch them suffer and quite frankly, neither will I!"

Musaki smiled at Ruiz and said, "Congratulations."

"What?"

"You stood your ground."

Ruiz chuckled and said, "Yeah, I did, didn't I?"

"Now how does that feel?'

"Actually...it feels good. Really good."

"I was thinking the same thing." Arizona said.

"You guys are ready. Let's get some rest because tomorrow will be another big day for us."

All three of them high-fived each other as they went their way back to the tent and for the first time, both Arizona and Ruiz felt a sense of confidence within themselves and that they'll stand up to Dai Ling one way or another.

* * *

><p>Awesome, huh? Now we get to the ambush scene. And believe me when I say this, it will be insane.<p> 


	15. Ambushed!

And now for the moment you've all been waiting for! Let the ambush scene commence! Tell me this will have you hanging on the edge of your seat!

* * *

><p>Chapter 15: Ambushed!<p>

The next day, everyone continued their way to get back to the Valley of Peace and Musaki hopes that he can fulfill this task he's brought up with. But he also worries that something might happen along the way and predicts that Dai Ling will come after them, including Arizona.

Samurai looks at Musaki and sees that he's getting worried about something, so he asked, "Hey, Saki. You okay?"

Musaki turns around and sees his cousin getting worried and replied, "Yeah, I...I think so."

"You sure about it? Because you seem a little worried."

Samurai was right. Musaki did seem worried for two reasons and he admitted, "Well, I'm just worried that what if I...fail at this mission? Master Shifu would be so disappointed in me."

"Don't say that. I know it's your first mission, but I'm sure you'll be fine."

"And that's not the only thing I'm worried about. What if...Dai Ling and his stupid comrades come out and kill us?"

"Don't say things like that. It's like what you said, 'if they do, we'll kick their butts'. And that's what we'll do."

"You make it sound so easy."

"We're family. We stick together."

Musaki chuckled and said, "Yeah, you're right. We got this."

Both Musaki and Samurai gave each other a high-five grip, showing that the bond will never be broken. He looks at Arizona and he smiled at him, assuring that everything will be fine. He smiled back as well because he's the only person that's ever believed in him.

As they make their way across, Musaki suddenly realized something. It slipped his mind and as they make their way towards a river, he realizes that the boat Quiang brought in for him on his way was still in Kong Wolf City. He turned to the others and said, "I kinda don't know how to say this, but my boat might still be in the river."

"There's like a big river right in front of us here. I don't think it'll be that difficult to find one." Cody explained.

"Yeah...because it's near Kong Wolf City."

Arizona and Ruiz were in shock when they heard that and Ruiz asked, "You mean...we might almost be in Kong Wolf City?"

"Pretty much."

"Man, that sucks."

"Which is why we need to run towards this base, get into the harbor, head for the boat and get out of there before those comrades hunt for us."

"Good idea." Arizona said.

They quickly made their way through the harbor, but just as they set foot near Kong Wolf City, they heard a growl come out of nowhere. Max got on his feet and asked fearfully, "What was that?"

"I don't know." Zeke answered.

"Sounds like it's coming from..." Shing began, but soon got interrupted by a mysterious figure.

"Us?"

The rest of the gang rose to their feet as they see one wolf guard walking up to them and asked maliciously, "How you doing?"

Arizona recognized him by the scar on his nose and the tattoo on his arm that says 'Strong vs. Weak' and the bar on his lip and some metal on his brow and asked, "Lao?"

"Hello, Arizona. You're back. And I see you brought company over."

Lao took a glimpse at Musaki and got into his face andtold him, "So, you're the young panda that took Arizona out of here. We've been expecting your arrival."

Suddenly, all of the wolf guards and gorilla guards surround them and all Lao could do is stand by and say, "Any last words?"

Then, for some odd reason, they didn't see them anywhere. He looks around and growled, "Where'd they go?"

Then, he got socked in the face multiple times, but he couldn't see who it was and some others were punched almost as if they did it themselves. Minutes later, the gang escaped and turned visible again as they made their way to Kong Wolf City.

Before they got to the harbor, the wolves blocked them out of the way and Musaki punched them out as did Arizona as the rest kept running. They just ran straight to the city in this crazy goose chase.

Musaki decided to split most of them up and he told Cody and his brothers to go with Shing and Kazuo and Zeke while he goes with Arizona and Ruiz. They ran off in different directions so that the wolves won't be able to find out where they are.

As Cody and the others made their way to the other side of the city, they were quickly cornered by the wolves and Shing offered to jump at them and scratch them in the face while Kazuo used his tail to release his stinkness at their faces, which caused the wolves to flee.

Shing and Kazuo high-fived each other and then, Cody and Zeke proceeded to use their kung-fu skills to use when the wolves headed their way and his brothers followed suit as well. Max was surrounded by the wolves and he didn't know what to do and when one tried to scratch him, he covered himself in a little area, but then he got saved by Tsunami, by kicking the wolves in the mouth.

Tsunami quickly picks up Max and asked, "You okay?"

"I am now." Max replied.

"I don't know how Musaki does this."

Meanwhile, Musaki went around the city with Arizona and Ruiz in tow trying to find an escape from there, but they were followed by the gorilla guards and most of the wolf army. Ruiz asked, "Do you ever have the feeling like we're being followed?"

"Why do you say that?" asked Musaki.

"Because we've got some unwanted company." Arizona answered.

Musaki turns around and sees the gorilla and wolf guards coming in for the attack and Musaki manages to knock them out quickly and he also punched them in the face too. When one gorilla guard charges at both of them, Arizona jumps in and punches him in the face and scratched him up. The wolf guard did not take it well and he decided to punch him out, but Arizona grabbed his fist and flipped him several times.

Ruiz did the same with the other wolf guard and kicked him in mid-air. Musaki drops his jaw, chuckled softly and said, "Dude..."

"Sounds like you learn fast." Musaki added.

"Let's get out of here." Arizona said.

"We gotta get the others though."

As soon as they were in the clear, most of the back-up guards stopped them dead in their tracks and beat them down. Suddenly, they put the cuffs on Musaki, Arizona and Ruiz and one of the guards said, "Good fight, but you're not going anywhere."

Musaki looks at the cuffs and groaned, "Not again."

Lao chuckled and said, "You're going back to the tower with Dai Ling...along with your friends."

And then, they see Cody, Zeke, Tsunami, Shing, Kazuo, Max, Samurai and Phoenix all cuffed up and they went to the jailhouse tower. As they were walking, Musaki looked at all of them in silence and he felt as if he failed.

"I wish I can get out of this..." Musaki said, silently.

* * *

><p>Tell me that wasn't the best thing I've ever written or the best thing I've ever read. The next chapter will bring in something about Dai Ling that you may never expect and what Arizona will be shocked to learn. This next chapter comes with a crazy twist! Stay tuned...<p> 


	16. Arizona Finds the Truth

Here's the twist that no one will see coming!

* * *

><p>Chapter 16: Arizona Finds the Truth<p>

Dai Ling looks over the city with so much arrogance and is still waiting for the guards to bring Musaki and Arizona back to the palace for more torture that he can imagine. Suddenly, one of the gorilla guards, Kuen, came to him and said, "We got the prisoners. The young panda has got some others as well. We brought them here."

Dai Ling chuckled evilly and said, "Good work. Bring them in."

He then went around the palace and as he sat down, he sees Musaki, Arizona and the others coming in as they face each other yet again. Cody looks at Dai Ling and said, "That is one ugly dude."

"You have no idea." Musaki muttered.

Dai Ling stood up and shouted at Musaki, "You think you can just bring Arizona out of here and get away with it?"

"That's pretty much the whole point. I'm saving him from your ugly derriere." Musaki answered.

"And do you think that that miserable pooch would have a real friend?"

"Watch it, dude! I will bust these chains and pummel you to the ground like your little group of stupid-looking pukebags!"

Phoenix snickered silently and said, "Pukebags..."

"Phoenix..."Cody said, shutting him up.

"I would have you know that this whole city will be mine and no one will EVER have the chance to live. As long as I can rule this place, the whole country of China will bow to me and you...you will face death!" Dai Ling shouted.

"Dude, you don't know me. In fact, there are a whole lot of things that you don't know about me." Musaki said, angrily.

"And me too!" Ruiz shouted.

"QUIET! You've caused enough trouble already!" Dai Ling bellowed.

"What have I ever did to you?"

"You're weak! You care nothing about us! You just want to protect those...freaks you call friends?"

"Okay, we draw the line at freaks!" Samurai exclaimed, angrily.

"You can't call my friends freaks!" Arizona yelled.

"What do you know?" Dai Ling added.

"You think you can tell a freak by just looking at them? Why must you judge them and make stupid lies about them if you don't even know them?"

"Are you questioning my intellect on how I see things in this world?"

"I will not stand here, listening to you spreading your lies about my best friend!"

"You're actually...defending the panda?"

"Yeah! So what? He's the best friend I ever met! Because of you, I had to endure 14 years of your abuse, your negativity and your hatred towards me and I can't take it anymore! You made me suffer for so long and other people suffered because of it! And no matter what you say, I'm sticking up for my best friend and there's nothing you can say or do about it to stop me!"

"I should've known that you were willing to risk your life for that panda friend of yours...just as your own pathetic father did trying to keep you from getting killed."

Arizona looked at him confused-like and whispered, "What?"

"You see, Arizona...I wanted revenge on your father and on the night that I surrounded Mu Zho Village, he wanted to save your life and he fought with me. Luckily, I managed to do what I wanted to do...I killed him. In case you haven't figured it out, your father...was my brother."

Everyone gasped in shock and Arizona was completely disturbed by what he had heard and Musaki said, "Wait a minute...if you're Arizona's father's brother, that would mean...you're his...?"

Dai Ling nodded his head and said, "I am his uncle."

Arizona's jaw dropped and said, in a shaky voice, "No. No! No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, NO! I don't believe you! I don't freakin' believe you!"

Dai Ling chuckled evilly and hissed, "Yes."

"You mean to tell me that for 14 years...my father was dead? And you killed him?"

Dai Ling showed him the sword that he used to kill his father with some dried blood on the tip of the sword and shouted, "Yes I did! And I'm glad I killed him!"

Arizona demanded answers from this unexpected news and angrily asked, "Why? Why did you do that? How could you keep this secret from me?"

"Because he banished me from his village because I beat up your pathetic mother! And he had the nerve to be the emperor when I should've been in that miserable village! So this was revenge suited upon getting what I want! After that, I decided to rule over this city so that your father would be forgotten and I will be the emperor of this misshapen world. Whereas you...you care for others and that makes you WEAK! Just like you and Ruiz!"

"You're wrong."

Dai Ling couldn't believe what he just heard and he turns to him and shouted, "What did you say?"

"I said you're wrong. About everything. Caring doesn't make me weak. It makes me strong in the end. And you didn't care if others would suffer because of you. All my life, you've told me the world is a dark, cruel place where no one will accept me as a friend! But what makes it like this is because of you! I'm surrounded by friends...good friends that care about me and are willing to risk their lives for me! Musaki...he's a good friend and he brought me out of that world you trapped me in with all of your lies! You lied to me for 14 years and like an idiot, I believed you! I'm sick of you putting me down when I'm howling at the dark moon because I'm different! I've been accepted by this group that likes me for me! And all you do is make my life miserable and everyone else that never even did anything wrong! People like you shouldn't exist nor be suffered because of what you did...especially to me." Arizona exclaimed, tearfully.

"You will NOT speak to me that way!" Dai Ling shouted, punching him in the stomach.

Then, he demanded all of them to be prisoned separately and Dai Ling grew more furious than ever because he has never heard Arizona speak like this. He growled and wanted to go through this plan to make more lives miserable as he can.

Meanwhile, Cody, Tsunami, Zeke, Kazuo, Shing, Phoenix and Samurai were taken to one side of the prison and slammed them in there and the other wolf guards brought in Musaki, Arizona and Ruiz in there and in a sudden turn of events, the wolf guards beat up Arizona and Ruiz as well and another one knocked Musaki in the face and shoved him to the floor and kicked him hard, causing him to scream.

The sound of the scream echoed halfway through China until it hits the soundwaves of Master Shifu's ears as he fell down to the ground at the Dragon Grotto, sensing that Musaki's in trouble. He gets himself up and suddenly fears that something bad is happening there.

He pants heavily and whispered, "No...Musaki..."

* * *

><p>Man, was that dramatic or what? After 14 years, Arizona finally found out the truth about his father that Dai Ling lied to him about. How will Musaki and the others get out of this one? Find out on the next chapter!<p> 


	17. Never Giving Up on Each Other

In a situation like this, sometimes friends will help you get you back on your feet if something goes wrong. Arizona's life changed by meeting Musaki and be friends with him when no one else did.

* * *

><p>Chapter 17: Never Giving Up On Each Other<p>

After that, Musaki, Ruiz and Arizona were sitting at a dark cell together and Arizona felt really angry with the fact that Dai Ling killed his father when he was a young cub and lied about it to think that his father really didn't love him because he was who he was and he completely wanted revenge on him.

Arizona growled lowly as he lowered his head down and his anger subsided into sadness and sorrow because of that unexpected tragedy that occured that night 14 years ago. He let out some tears immediately and then he turns to Ruiz, but he didn't want to see him cry. Ruiz actually did see him break down and he comforted him, stating that he's here for him.

"I just can't believe that my dad was killed by that...that menace." Arizona said, in tearful anger.

"I'm...I'm sorry." Ruiz said.

Arizona covered his face to prevent anyone seeing his tears, but Ruiz already saw one falling down on him and gave him a hug and Arizona starts crying on Ruiz's shoulder and said, "It'll be okay. It was actually a surprise to me too."

"14 years...14 freakin' years Dai Ling lied to me. I thought that my dad abandoned me and I resented him for it and...that I hated him for it. And now...my dad's been dead all this time...and he kept it from me."

At that point, Arizona felt like he couldn't take being abused by Dai Ling anymore and he felt like it was the last straw for him and started growling to keep his hurt emotions away from him. But Ruiz could see it in his eyes and he wipes them for him and Arizona told him, "Why would he let me suffer while others are suffering themselves? To judge us for the way we are and judge me because I'm different? They don't even know what I'm about. I've been called ugly, a monster and a freak that no one will be friends with or even be loved because it's weak...just like me."

"You're not weak. Remember what Musaki said? Being different and caring for others doesn't make you weak. It makes you stronger. You have a good heart and from what I learned from him...it makes you look cool."

Arizona reluctantly agreed with Ruiz, but he still couldn't come to grips with the fact that Dai Ling lied to him about his father just to make his life as miserable as ever and he turned away from everyone else. Ruiz sighed heavily and sat down on the ground, hoping that Arizona gets the message. But Arizona then looks back at all the things Musaki gave him after he took him out of the tower and that friendship is real and realizes that he found a friend in him all along and before long, all of Ruiz's sayings to him suddenly sunk in.

Meanwhile, Musaki turned away from everyone because he felt as if trying to get to the boat before the guards stopped them was his fault for doing so and it ended up with all of them in jail.

"This is all my fault." Musaki whispered.

Ruiz quickly turned to him and asked, "What do you mean?"

Musaki sighed heavily and replied, "I mean...If I hadn't have left the boat near the city to get Arizona out and then go back to the harbor to sail off, we wouldn't have been caught."

"That doesn't make it your fault."

Musaki glared at him, showing him the cuffs on his wrists and said, "We're sitting here in chains and we just got beaten up. I think that pretty much sums it up."

Ruiz could tell that Musaki felt like this is his lowest point in this position and he puts his hand on Musaki's shoulder and said, "We can get out of this."

Musaki lowered his head down and said, "I always knew rescue missions like this was hard, but I didn't think it would be this hard."

"How do you mean?"

"Honestly? Maybe I wanted to prove that I was strong enough to handle anything on my own or that I might be good enough for everyone else, so when I try to accomplish something, it'll mean that I'm definitely make everyone else proud of me...including my kung-fu family."

Musaki closed his eyes as tears began to form on his eyes and said, "But I was wrong. I just see nothing...but failure. I failed my family, failed my honor, failed you guys, but worst of all...I failed myself."

Arizona overheard him and he decides that he needs a positive boost the way Musaki gave it to him. He then turns to him and said, "Don't say you failed yourself."

"How would you know? I brought you guys back in here along with your old friends, my brother and my cousins. It's my fault. I let them down."

Arizona stood up, got behind Musaki and gently told him, "That doesn't mean it's your fault. It's the guards' fault for putting us back in here."

"That's true. You're right about that. It feels like...did I really come all this way to only save you from this place or did I just come here to show myself that I want to be different from everyone else to do this rescue mission? Or more importantly, did I just come here...for nothing?"

Arizona immediately thought about what Ruiz told him and looked back on that night when Musaki got him out of the tower and became an awesome friend along the way...something he never had before. He sat down, puts his hand on his shoulder and said, "Dude, you did not come here for nothing. Musaki...you came all this way from the Valley of Peace to not only rescue me from here, but you saved me from myself. For 14 years, I've been in a dark, lonely state in my life filled with misery and suffering and then you came along and brought me out of that world into something different. Like..light, happiness and joy...something I never felt before. And you've always been there for me by my side when no one else could. You pulled me out of that dark hole and actually stayed by my side. You're my best friend, Musaki... and nothing will ever change that."

Hearing this made Musaki felt like he accomplished something already by bringing Arizona out of the world of darkness and bringing him into the light where everything's okay. Then, he said, "You never gave up on me, Musaki. And I'll never give up on you."

"Neither will I."

Ruiz went in and said, "After you saved me from the wolf guards, it felt like I definitely found a friend that I knew that would stick by me and would always be there for me and...I don't know what else to say except you're an awesome person. Once my life was just dark and full of so much depression and you changed it up to let me live happily. That shows that you're a good friend and I will never forget that."

Musaki suddenly felt really happy about this, lets out one tear and said, "I'd risk my life for you guys any day."

"And we'd do the same." Arizona said.

"No matter what happens, we'll never give up on each other."

All of them stood up and formed a group hug and Musaki said, "I love you guys."

"Us too."

"We're gonna get out of this."

"Yeah, we will." Ruiz said.

They broke off the hug and told Arizona, "Hey, Zona. I'm really sorry to hear about what actually happened to your dad. I know he meant a lot to you."

Arizona stares at Musaki with a smile and said, "Thanks. I never knew who he was, but what I do remember is that he was the best dad. It's funny, you know. All this time I thought he abandoned me and that he might come back, but now...he's gone."

"There's one thing I never understood though; how come all of those other wolves are in prison?"

"Honestly, after my father died, Dai Ling took over the entire city and put Master Xiang and most of his righteous army in jail so that they'll take over the place and possibly all of China."

"They arrested some innocent wolves for their own selfish purposes. We can't let that happen. We gotta save these wolves and the city."

"I agree."

"First thing, we need to break out of these cuffs." Ruiz said.

"Got ya covered."

Musaki re-used that power of breaking the cuffs by busting a pipe and let water come out and go into the cuffs, making it rust and then break apart and he used the same technique on Ruiz and Arizona and they were both free and broke down the door and escaped out of the cell.

"Let's save my cousins and your friends." Musaki said.

"Got it!"

* * *

><p>Friendship is a bond that will never be broken and Musaki helped Arizona and Ruiz see that. Next up...we're prepping up for the battle, but first they get to rescue the peaceful people from Dai Ling's evilness. Let the awesomeness commence!<p> 


	18. Escape and Attack

Now it's time for the innocent prisoned wolves to take back what's theirs from Dai Ling and this is a warm-up for motivation given by Musaki and Arizona.

* * *

><p>Chapter 18: Escape and Attack<p>

Later on, Musaki takes a peek to see if the coast is clear and tells Arizona and Ruiz that it's safe and followed him towards the other side of the tower and Arizona showed Musaki the prison cells around where all the other wolves are held in. To their surprise, the door was left open and Arizona said, "That's weird. Usually, they always close it."

"Do they really?" asked Musaki.

"Yeah."

"Well, they certainly picked a fine time to do it."

They suddenly went in and while they were walking, all the other wolves stared at Musaki in wonder and one said, "You're the young panda warrior that Chao told us about."

Musaki paused for a second and surpisedly asked, "Me?"

"Yeah. I see you brought Arizona out."

"Actually, those wolf guards got us back here. We're gonna escape again, but this time they got us, but we broke out of the cell and we're gonna fight Dai Ling and his stupid comrades."

"You are?" asked another wolf.

"Yeah we are."

One male wolf scoffs at him and said, in a raspy voice, "His army is unstoppable."

"Well, so are we."

"How are we gonna fight him? We do want back what's ours, but he's too powerful."

"Never say that! We are gonna fight this guy. I spent 14 years letting him push me around and fill my life with so much misery until this panda came along and taught me and Ruiz that I can stand up to what's right. Master Xiang, you're the master of the city. You should be able to claim what's yours and let this place be as peaceful as ever and get Dai Ling out of there."

Xiang looked at Arizona and told him, "It's a risky situation."

"But it's a risk well worth taking."

Chao looks at him with a smile and said, "He's much wiser than I am. Arizona's right. We've let Dai Ling and his army take over our peaceful Kong Wolf for too long and it's time to regain our home."

All the other wolves agreed with what they said and Arizona asked, "Are we gonna keep living in misery?"

"No!"

"Are we gonna stand by and suffer through it?"

"No!"

"Will we take back what's ours?"

"Yes!"

"Then let's get out of here and fight back!" Musaki exclaimed.

All the other wolves cheered loudly and within seconds, Musaki and Arizona opened all the cell doors and the wolves brought in their weapons and to their surprise, a huge wolf-7'5, 225 pounds, with a scarred eye, wearing ripped shorts with holes in them, broke through the jail cell and got out of there along with the rest and said, "I'm ready!"

Arizona and Musaki looked at him and said, "Wow..."

"Okay, that's radical." Musaki said.

"Thanks, kid." the tall wolf replied.

Xiang chuckled and said, "Xing is the best warrior here in Kong Wolf City. He has the strength of a million guard rhinos."

Xing picked up his hammer and said, "Let's give that Dai Ling a big what for. You with me?"

Everyone cheered loudly and Musaki bellowed, "CHARGE!"

They all got out of the cell and followed Musaki and Arizona, but first Musaki had to set some friends free. He went to this one cell and he sees his cousins there, all chained up and he said, "Hey, guys."

Cody looks up and sees Musaki on the door and he said, excitedly, "Musaki! Man, am I glad to see you."

"Don't worry. I'm gonna get you guys out of here."

"Dude, in case you haven't noticed, we're handcuffed."

Musaki unlocked the door and then used his trick to make the cuffs rust with water, which results into breaking out of them and he said, "Now you're free."

Tsunami stood up and looked surprised and asked, "How did you...?"

"Long story. I'll tell ya later. Are you guys ready to kick Dai Ling's butt?"

"Yeah, we are!" they all replied.

"Let's set everyone free here."

One-by-one, Musaki and the others released every innocent wolf Dai Ling imprisoned and set out to get him back and as they all escaped, the entire prison cells were empty and everyone formed a huge army to take back their rightful city and with Musaki and Arizona in the lead, nothing can stop them.

"Put on your best fight guys, because after this, there will be no turning back. The entire night belongs to us!" Musaki exclaimed.

Soon, Dai Ling put all of the wolf guards to work on plans to destruct the city and within a few minutes, he said, "Finally, I'll be the emperor of China and once I gain control, I'll get what I always wanted."

Meanwhile, Musaki and the others snuck around to give Dai Ling and the others a big surprise when they start to form an attack method. Suddenly, they spot a few wolf guards and to their surprise, they saw all of them escaping and plans to attack them, but Musaki beat them to the punch and Xing knocked them out immediately.

"Great skills, kid." Xing said.

"Same to you, big guy." Musaki added.

Then, they seek a huge glass window coming in and they spot Dai Ling standing there and Xing decided to bust through the window to attack. He quickly runs through, puts his entire body on the window, shatters it and uses his martial art skills to show that they mean business.

Dai Ling turned around and saw Xing taunting him and he was shocked to see him escape and asked, "How did you...?"

"Hello, Dai-Lame-O!" Musaki taunted.

"YOU!"

"Yes, me. We ain't gonna let you destruct all that is good and peaceful. Because as far as we can tell, we don't like bugs, particularly an ugly, disgusting one like you. And what we do with them...we exterminate them!"

Dai Ling laughed sinisterly and said, "I've got a hundred wolves and gorillas and there's only four of you."

"Oh really?"

Suddenly, all of the other wolves pop out of the window and surrounded the entire room and started growling at Dai Ling and the army. Dai Ling grew angry about how they escaped and how Arizona and Ruiz are put into this.

"Little piece of advice...never leave a door open in a prison cell and tell your stupid comrades to never leave some keys unattended." Musaki said.

He throws the keys and aimed straight for Dai Ling's face and Arizona laughed hysterically and told him, "You got owned, dude!"

Dai Ling growls at them and bellowed, "GET THEM!"

Musaki also bellowed, "LET'S FIGHT!"

* * *

><p>And the fight begins! Come the next chapter, it's gonna be pandemonium...or in my case; wolf-and-panda-war-monium! Just you wait and see.<p> 


	19. Fighting Back!

And the battle is ON!

* * *

><p>Chapter 19: Fighting Back!<p>

Musaki, his cousins, Arizona, Ruiz, Shing, Kazuo and a bunch of other wolves came out to fight Dai Ling and his guards to reclaim what is theirs and the wolf and gorilla guards set out to fight them and the battle was full-on crazy. Some of the wolves punched them out and used their weapons to knock them all out.

Dai Ling got in on the fight and decided to defeat all the prisoners they put in, but two of them already beat him to the punch, by swinging their hammers towards his face.

Xiang comes at them with supernatural powers and pummels most of the wolves in mid-air and Xing comes out and bashes them in the head while Musaki's cousins went around and did their kung-fu moves to take them down.

Kazuo ran around to find an opening, but he was cornered by some wolves to kill him, but Shing beat them to it as he leaped on top of them, planning to beat them up. He looks over at Kazuo and yelled, "Run!"

He ran off to find somewhere safe, but was blocked by Dai Ling. He chuckled evilly, but then raised up his tail and spray his stink onto his face. He starts choking disgustedly and plans to kill him. He raised up his sword and shouted, "I'll kill you, you disgusting rat!"

Suddenly, Musaki beat him down in the face and Zeke threw him across the room and told Kazuo to join them while the others kept fighting. Most of the prisoners were beaten, but they were willing to fight to regain their city back.

Xiang bellowed, "Attack them! For our city!"

Dai Ling popped up and asked, "YOUR CITY? The city belongs to me!"

"Not anymore. We're getting it back!"

"Over my dead body!"

"And that's where you'll get your wish." Musaki added.

"Not if you die first!"

"Try me!"

Musaki wields in his sais, twirls them around and poses a combative-like move in order to show Dai Ling that he's a force to be reckoned with and that he's really serious and that he's gonna fight him. Dai Ling stares at him and said, "You will lose."

"No, it's you who will lose."

Musaki jumps in and starts kicking, shoving and punching him directly while Dai Ling tries to attack him with several of his weapons, including his sword to slay him, but he can't seem to make a right aim every time he dodges.

Arizona, Zeke and Ruiz came in to battle mode to defeat those gorilla and wolf guards and one gorilla guard tried to strangle them, but Arizona hopped in and kicked him directly in the face and Ruiz bit him in the arm and Zeke punched him out hard.

Cody, Tsunami and Phoenix were surrounded by the wolf guards, but Tsunami beat them down hard and Chao went in and used a blue and yellow beam popping out of his hands to take them down hard. Chao looks at them and asked, "Are you all related to the young warrior?"

"Who, Musaki? Yeah." Cody replied.

"He's got some fighting skills."

"He was taught by Master Shifu." Phoenix added.

"Master Shifu...I know him well."

Meanwhile, Samurai, Xiang and Xing went in as some others came along, but Xing bodyslammed them down to the ground and Xiang used his sword to bring down every guard that comes in the way and gives them revenge for all the times they made their lives miserable.

Samurai looks at Xiang and Xing with a shocked expression and said, "Whoa..."

Xing smiles and winks at him and said, "Haven't done that in a long time."

"That was freakin' awesome!"

They all kept fighting and fighting and the sight of bloodshed came out of nowhere where a few of the wolf guards have been killed and injured by the prisoners and Dai Ling wanted them all dead, so he tried to kill most of the prisoners, though he missed every chance he could.

But he had three main targets to focus on killing: Musaki, Arizona and Ruiz. He tried to use a sniper to kill all three and when he pulled the trigger, all three of them dodged the missle and set a huge explosion on the other side of the tower.

"Missed it!" Dai Ling exclaimed.

"Not cool, dude. Not cool." Musaki said, angrily.

He brought in a sword to take him down, but missed as well. They continued the battle until a light figure caught their attention, which stopped the fight.

"Now what?" asked Musaki.

As soon as they turned around, they saw a huge shadow figure come out of nowhere and one asked in a deep voice, "Which one of you is Musaki?"

"Uh...I am." Musaki answered, nervously.

Suddenly, to Musaki's surprise, the shadow figure came in and he was a tall ox and all of a sudden, he quickly recognizes that person. He gasped and asked, "Master Storming Ox?"

"Yes it is." Storming Ox answered.

"How did you know my name?"

"Master Shifu sent us an urgent message to make sure you get to safety. Also, we brought in a little help."

"We?"

Suddenly, another wolf army came in behind Storming Ox and in front of them is Master Croc. Musaki drops his jaw when he sees that many people coming in to join the fight.

"Let's finish this!" Croc exclaimed.

Musaki nodded his head and said, "The fight is back on!"

Croc, Storming Ox and the wolf army went in on the action and continued on slaying them and suddenly, Storming Ox went in alongside Musaki and asked, "You ready, kid?"

"Let's do this."

One of the gorilla guards came charging at them and Storming Ox beat him at headpoint, using his horns to tackle him. And then, Croc uses his tail to bash him out.

"Now that's using your tail!" Musaki exclaimed.

"My special weapon!" Croc added.

Arizona and Ruiz went in to confront Dai Ling and then beat him up for all the misery they caused them over the years, but Dai Ling definitely growled at them and said, "Your friend will be a goner!"

"We'll see about that!" Ruiz shouted.

Ruiz went in and beat him up and Arizona did a backflip and kicked him in the head, but Dai Ling quickly got up and sees Musaki and whips out his dagger to stab him. He throws the dagger and Arizona shouted, "Musaki, look out!"

Musaki looks up and sees the dagger heading straight for him and Croc got him out of the way as the dagger landed on the floor.

"You all right, kid?" asked Croc.

"Yeah, I'm cool." Musaki responded.

Musaki looks up at Dai Ling and asked, "Really, dude?"

Dai Ling heads down and told him, "I've had enough of you for the last time!"

He picks up his dagger and plans to stab him, but immediately got socked in the face with a hammer and Musaki turns around and sees the Wolf Boss coming in behind him. He looks at him and said, "Go! My pack can handle this!"

"Got it!"

Musaki rushes off to find Arizona and Ruiz and he can hear Ruiz saying, "Musaki! Up here!"

He looks up and sees both of them on the balcony and he climbs up to catch up with them. He said, "Hey, guys. You okay?"

"We're fine." Arizona replied.

Suddenly, they see Dai Ling getting out of there and heading towards the roof and Musaki looked down on Storming Ox and shouted, "He's getting away!"

"Go after him!"

"What about you though?"

"We can handle this! Go get him!"

"Look out for my cousins and my brother, okay?"

"We will!"

"Come on, guys. We're heading to the roof! Let's end Dai Ling once and for all!"

With that, Arizona, Musaki and Ruiz went out of the balcony and headed to the roof to get rid of Dai Ling while the others beat up the wolf guards and gorilla guards. Zeke looks around and doesn't see Musaki anywhere and asked Croc, "Where's Musaki?"

"He's gonna get rid of Dai Ling. So far, most of the wolf guards and gorilal guards are dead." Croc answered.

"Be careful, Saki." Zeke whispered.

* * *

><p>The final battle will commence! Who will win this round? One way to find out is to keep a look out for this next chapter!<p> 


	20. The Last Fight: Avenge!

Sorry to keep you waiting. Here is the amazing battle scene and let me tell you...it is CRAZY FREAKIN' AWESOME!

* * *

><p>Chapter 20: The Last FightAvenge!

Later on, Musaki, Arizona and Ruiz got onto the roof of the tower to find Dai Ling and take him down once and for all. Musaki looks around and has a sense that something might go wrong and he alerted both Arizona and Ruiz, "Stay close. He could be anywhere, so keep your eyes open."

They quietly walked halfway through and somehow, Musaki felt a sense that Dai Ling could be closer to catch them any minute. What they didn't know is that Dai Ling just stood there watching Musaki and the others walking by, waiting for the first strike.

Suddenly, Dai Ling starts growling and then jumps out of nowhere aiming at Musaki and then, he turns around and grabs him by the foot and then throws him on the side of the roof.

"Think you'll attack us without us knowing it?" Musaki asked.

Dai Ling comes over to him and shoves him down on the ground and he picks up his dagger and plans to cut him, but Arizona stopped him by biting his tail, which made Dai Ling howl in pain and he ended up punching his face.

"You all right?" asked Ruiz.

"I'm good." Musaki replied.

Dai Ling growls at Arizona and said, "You made a big mistake."

"No, you killing my dad and lied to me about it...that's a big mistake." Arizona snarled.

Then, Musaki wields in his sais to take Dai Ling down and both of them attacked each other head-on with their weapons as they both clashed. Musaki was determined to take him down but Dai Ling was certain to end Musaki's life, but he won't have it. Dai Ling raised his sword to slice his head, but Musaki used his anti-gravity lean move to make him miss.

Dai Ling was distracted by missing the aim, Musaki kicked him in the face, which sent him flying and then he used his blue and yellow supernova beam power to blast him down.

Dai Ling came back down a little banged up, but still willing to defeat him and he came at him and just kicked, shoved and punched him in every direction and he pushed him to the wall, snarling at him and said, "I've had enough of you."

"And I've had enough of you."

"You really think that that miserable weakling would be friends with you? He's not worthy of having one!"

"You're lying through your ugly, crooked teeth! You could have a dentist looking at that!"

"How dare you..."

"How dare you! Judging Arizona because he's different from others! You think you know everything, but you don't."

Suddenly, Ruiz came from behind and punched him directly in the face and then, he transformed himself to his Uncle Jako and to his surprise, he recognized him and began to tear him up and punched him, bit him and pushed him down, leaving Dai Ling immediately scarred. And just when he's about to strike, Dai Ling recognized Ruiz's eyes and suddenly, he beats him back which puts him back to his old self.

He uses his hammer and then...strikes a blow on Ruiz's leg, which made it inure him. Ruiz cries out in pain and Musaki comes to him and asked, "Ruiz, are you okay?"

Ruiz groans in pain and sees his leg injured and half of blood on his shoulder and replied, "I'm...okay."

Arizona comes to him and sees Ruiz beaten and bloodied and both him and Musaki try to stand him up and then, Arizona looks at Dai Ling with a villainous smirk on his face and it made Arizona angry. He turns to Musaki and said, "Go take Ruiz to safety."

"What about you?" asked Musaki, worriedly.

"Don't worry about me. I can handle him myself."

"On your own?"

"Yeah! Just go."

Musaki didn't want to see his friend die, but he was willing to put Ruiz into safety. He nodded his head and left without saying a word leaving Arizona alone to battle him. Once he left, Arizona slowly turned to Dai Ling and draws his sword and said, "I can't believe my own uncle would do this to my father."

Dai Ling chuckled and said, "I always hated your father. He thinks that he is better than me. I should've been the emperor instead of him."

"Why would you kill him?"

"Because he refused to give me what I wanted. Now I can get what I never wanted-to be king. And my supposedly sad excuse for a nephew would be the weakest one that still lives."

Arizona seethes at him and he hears Dai Ling saying harsh words about himself and his father and he wasn't gonna take anymore of it anymore.

Meanwhile, Musaki walks over to the other side of the roof where he met off with his cousins, Samurai and Phoenix, in which they were a little beaten up, but still walking. Musaki quickly asked, "You guys okay?"

"We're cool." Samurai said, catching his breath.

"Most of the wolf guards are dead and some of the gorilla guards surrendered." Phoenix added.

"Oh man, I never thought I would see so many bloodshed. I almost puked."

"Are the other wolf prisoners living?" asked Musaki.

"Yep, but there are still more fighting."

Musaki looks at Ruiz and he groaned in deep pain as his leg gets messed up. He then thought about what would happen if Dai Ling kileld Arizona and he wasn't there to save him on time. He sighed deeply and said, "You guys take Ruiz. His leg is hurt really bad."

Samurai grabs Ruiz by the shoulder and asked, "What are you gonna do now?"

Musaki knew he had to make the ultimate choice: save Arizona from death. He answered, "I'm gonna save my best friend."

"You sure? Dai Ling will kill you."

Musaki also knew he was facing a life-or-death situation, but he knows that he'll get through this one. Then, he told his cousins, "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

"Musaki?"

"Yeah?"

Samurai looks at him with a crooked smile and a tear from his eye and said, "I love you, cuz."

"Love you too...cuz."

With that, Musaki runs off to save Arizona from death. Ruiz looks at Samurai and Phoenix and said, "He's a great person, isn't he?"

"Yeah. I'm proud to have him as my cousin." Samurai answered.

"He's...really determined."

"Yeah...just like my uncle."

Meanwhile, Arizona gets beaten and bloodied up by Dai Ling's beatings and weapons and he's left with a scar on his shoulder, a black eye and another scar on his eye while he was laying down on the ground. Dai Ling got beaten up as well and he still wants to defeat him.

"You shouldn't have left here! You really want to risk your life for that stupid freak panda you call a friend? That is weakness beyond anything I have ever heard of! You're weak! Pathetic! And you don't deserve to live! Your father should've killed with when you were born! No one in this world cares about you and they never will!"

Dai Ling raises his sword directly at Arizona, but Arizona quickly stopped him in his tracks and he told him, "You're wrong! You've ALWAYS been wrong! You were wrong about the world! You were wrong about my father! You were wrong about my best friend! And you were wrong about ME! Caring for others does not make me weak! Nor is it for anyone else! It makes me strong, no matter what you say! You've always made my life miserable because of it! And to think my uncle would be the one to cause all of this hate towards me and killed my father for it and plans to make every species suffer? How much pain you give not only me but to everyone else-innocent people going about their business? What have they ever done to you anyway? I don't care what you say! Your lies will never stick to me and all those things you said about Musaki...he's my best friend. And nothing will change that! He always has been and always will be! So, I am not the one who's weak. You are."

Dai Ling punches him so hard and shoved him in the concrete wall and laid down on the ground. At that point, Dai Ling was ready for Arizona's fate and he said, "You think I'm weak?"

He raised his sword and plans to stab him and whispered, "You're one of them."

Just when he's about to stab him, he suddenly got pummeled by a supernatural blue orb coming behind him and screams in pain. Arizona looks up and sees Musaki standing on top and jumps down and lands on the roof in Arizona's side. He looks at him and asked, "You okay, Zona?"

Arizona panted heavily and looked at Musaki with a surprised expression on his face and asked, "You...you came back for me?"

Musaki chuckled softly and said, "Of course I came back for you. You're my best friend."

"No one has ever...came back for me before."

"Well, I'm your best friend and I'll always be here for them."

Arizona felt really happy that Musaki did come back for him and Musaki gave out a helping hand to lift him up. He also asked, "Where's Ruiz?"

"He's with my cousins. He'll be okay, though."

Dai Ling growled at both of them angrily and said, "Friendship...is useless."

"Oh, really? Dude, you don't know what we're about."

Musaki wields his sai and turns to Arizona and said, "Let's finish him...together."

"Right."

Both Musaki and Arizona ran out to fight him and both of them punched him out, shoved him while Dai Ling was able to fight back with his sword. Dai Ling punches Musaki in the face, but Musaki leaned back and punched him back as well. Arizona comes up behind him with a sword and both of them clack their swords together, aiming at each other. Arizona turns his sword and slices through Dai Ling's shirt and into his arm, leaving a huge scar with blood and Arizona fought back much more, but Dai Ling pushed him down to the ground, using his hands.

Dai Ling groans painfully as he feels the blood coming out of his arm and covers it up. Arizona looks up and asked, "Pain hurts, doesn't it? But you wouldn't know about that, would ya? So now you know how we all feel."

Dai Ling ignored him and then he comes up to Arizona with a sword, planning to end his life. He growls, raises up his dagger and shouts, "I'm gonna do what I should've done with your miserable father 14 years ago!"

Just when he's about to stab him, he gets punched in the face with a sledgehammer, causing Dai Ling to scream in pain and falls down to the ground as blood starts spurting out of his mouth. Arizona looks up and he sees Musaki holding the sledgehammer and he whispered, "Whoa..."

Musaki winks at him and then turns to Dai Ling and said, "Not cool, man. Not cool."

Then, kicks Dai Ling in the stomach hard and spits on his face. He walks up to Arizona and asked, "You all right?"

"I'm fine now."

Dai Ling tries to stand up and plans to finish both of them and Musaki asked, "He never gives up, doesn't he?"

"I won't stop...until you two...are obliterated!" Dai Ling shouts, painfully.

"Can you even spell 'obliterate'?" asked Musaki.

Arizona stares at him angrily and then, he sees the sword next to Dai Ling and he walks in and grabs it. Once he grabs it, he starts thinking back on all the times Dai Ling gave him misery, suffering and grief. He knew it was time to end all misery to both Kong Wolf City and all of China so everyone can live in peace.

Arizona comes up to him and shoves him down hard to the ground with the sword at hand. He closed his eyes and said, "This is for all the misery you gave me and the other innocent wolves for 14 years, for my best friend, for all of China and most importantly...this is for my father."

He raises up the sword and stabs him in the chest, causing Dai Ling to scream loudly and then, shoves him down and stabs him in the back, making Dai Ling scream more loudly than ever. Arizona sees him stand up with his blood coming out of his stomach and then Dai Ling fell all the way down out of the tower to his death.

Arizona pants heavily and realizes that he avenged his father and he whispered, "Well dad...Dai Ling's dead...just as the city promised."

He looks back and sees Musaki behind him and Musaki told him, "You did it, Zona. You defeated Dai Ling."

"No..._we _did it." Arizona added.

Suddenly, they hear something rumbling from beneath and Musaki asked, "What was that?"

"I don't know." Arizona answered.

Then, the rumbling intensifies and they soon discover that the entire building is coming down. Without warning, Samurai quickly comes up to them and said, "Guys, the building's coming down!"

"We can see that!" Musaki added.

"We gotta get out of here!"

Samurai quickly fleed the building and both Musaki and Arizona tried to find a way to get out of there, but the building starts crumbling down. As soon as they were running, they knew that the only way to get out of this is to jump out of the building.

Musaki looks down and sees all the others down there and he said, "We gotta catch up with them!"

"Are you crazy? What if we don't make it?" Arizona asked.

"Hey, if we get out of this, we'll be fine."

Arizona felt scared, but then sees Musaki's eyes and he knew that everything will be okay. He pants heavily and said, "All right."

"Okay, now let's jump out of here because this building will come down like a huge domino."

Both of them went to the edge of the building and they both leaped up and fell all the way down, screaming. They couldn't think that they might not make it out alive or if they'll be dead. Just when they were about to hit the pavement, someone swooped in and saved them in time. Arizona opened his eyes and sees that they're in the air and he looked at Musaki and he was in the air as well.

Arizona panted and said, "Saki?"

"Yeah, Zona?"

"Why aren't we falling down?"

"I think I can answer that."

Suddenly, Arizona looks up and sees a golden dragon coming up and he said, "What's up?"

"Who are you?"

"I'm Kohruyuu, the golden dragon. I'm friends with the 4 celestial guardians and also their leader."

Arizona finds that he's riding on his back and he suddenly felt like he was going higher and he said, "Thanks. Where's Musaki?"

Kohruyuu points to where Musaki is and finds that he's on someone's leg and Musaki waved at him and asked, "Perfect timing, huh?"

"Are you flying?" asked Arizona.

"Ask him."

He turns to see an avian bird for the first time with a straw hat and Musaki asked, "Surprised that I'm being rescued by Master Crane?"

"You mean...The Master Crane? Of the Furious Five?"

"You must be Arizona, right?" asked Crane.

"Yeah, that's me."

"I saw the battle. Good thing you got Musaki with ya."

"Told ya I have an adopted kung-fu family." Musaki said.

"I never knew you actually did."

"Trust me, there's a lot of things you don't know about me."

Later, they landed to where the entrance of the tower and sees everyone else made it out alive. Musaki looks at Crane and asked, "Shifu sent you, didn't he?"

"Pretty much."

"Well...I kinda needed that."

"Musaki!"

Musaki turns around and sees his cousins and Zeke standing there, cheering for him. He runs up to them and hugs them tightly and everyone else joined in as well. Cody looks at Musaki and said, "I knew you're okay."

"Me too." Phoenix said.

"Shut up, Phoenix. You said that he might die." Samurai said.

"I did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

Musaki chuckled and said, "It's great to be alive."

Zeke looks at Musaki and said, "I'm really amazed to call you my brother."

Musaki chuckled and said, "I was just thinking the same thing."

They both hugged each other and Zeke told him, "You kicked serious butt, man."

"You too."

He looks up at all the other wolves and Master Xiang came to him and said, "You and Arizona managed to defeat Dai Ling...like the symbol of yin and yang."

"Arizona did all the final blows. I just helped him out."

"We are grateful that you came in and brought back peace to our city."

Every wolf in Kong Wolf City bowed down to Musaki and he found it a little weird, but he was cool with it regardless. He chuckled and said, "Thanks."

Master Storming Ox came to Musaki and said, "I see Master Shifu taught you well, young panda."

"Yep, 3 whole years."

"You remind me of that Dragon Warrior." Croc retorted.

"Oh, don't remind me."

Musaki turns to Ruiz and asked, "You okay?"

Ruiz grunts in pain and replied, "Yeah. I saw the whole thing from up there. Arizona killed Dai Ling, didn't he?"

"Yeah, he did."

"Good riddance."

He high-fived him and Ruiz felt a small amount of pain on his left leg and winced sharply and Musaki said, "Sorry."

"I'm cool now."

All of a sudden, there was a bright light shining in the sky and they didn't know where it was, but to their surprise, they saw a white figure coming in and it came to Arizona and he said, "My son...Li-Xiao Arizona."

Arizona looks at the figure and he recognized those same blue eyes he has and he gasped in shock and whispered, "Dad?"

He nodded his head and Arizona felt completely emotional about seeing his dad as an angel for the first time and his father rubbed his hair just to feel his prescence. Arizona quickly hugged him with tears coming out of his eyes and said, "I'm so sorry, dad. I'm so sorry."

"Do not apologize, Li-Xiao. I saw what you did with Dai Ling. He caused so much misery after he killed me and I hoped that one of those days, you would fight back. And you did...not only for yourself, but for all of China."

"I just...felt so guilty all those years, thinking that you abandoned me. The bitterness and the resentment I held against you when I should've held it against Dai Ling. He was wrong about you, me and everyone else here."

"I am sorry that your uncle would do this to you. But you will not suffer anymore for now you will live in peace...with your new friend."

His father pointed at Musaki and told him to come forth. Musaki did come to him and said, "I am humbly honored that you would come all the way to Kong Wolf to bring Arizona out of my brother's evil clutches. It takes a special kind of friend to do that."

"Thank you, sir."

"Always remember, my son...love will follow you wherever you go and when you feel alone...I will be right in your heart."

Arizona nodded and tearfully said, "I will."

"I'll be waiting for you...along with your mother."

"Wait, you're leaving me?"

"I have to go back."

"But i don't want you to go!"

"Arizona...do not worry about me. Just go in peace with your friend. I will always be with you."

Tears fell out of Arizona's eyes and he hugged him tightly and cried on his shoulders, whispering, "I love you, dad."

"I love you too...my son."

Then, the white light disappeared as his father went back to the sky. Arizona got on his knees and starts crying softly, knowing that he saw his father in 14 years and that he's always loved him after he died even though Dai Ling told him lies about it. Musaki walked towards him, puts his hand on his shoulder and said, "I told you he loves you."

Arizona looks at him and gives him a hug and cried to his shoulders-this time in happiness. Musaki asked, "What was that for?"

"For getting me out of the dark, emptiness that I've been in and brought me into something that's filled with light and happiness. I'll never forget what you did for me."

Musaki embraces the hug and whispered, "You're welcome."

Arizona's heart felt like he was finally at peace and with his best friend, the bond will never be broken.

* * *

><p>Awesome, huh? Sorry it took me so long to finish it. Wanted to finish it Monday, but things got in the way and I had to finish the rest of the chapter Friday and I wanted to post it last night. But I promise to make up for it for you guys. Tell me what ya'll think! How awesome did I do with this? Stay tuned for more!<p> 


	21. Homecoming

Check out an awesome homecoming for Musaki and the others!

* * *

><p>Chapter 21: Homecoming<p>

Later on, the wolves led them to the boat to set sail and Storming Ox suggested to take the others back to Gongmen City. As soon as they got there, Musaki looks back on them and Xiang said, "Thank you for everything, young warrior. We will never forget what you have done here."

"Thanks." Musaki said, with a smile.

"Arizona is lucky to have you as a friend."

"As am I."

Musaki got on the boat with the others and as they set sail, Musaki looks back and gives them a bow and a wave goodbye and the others cheered, bowed to him and told him a million 'thank you's' and Arizona looks at them and said goodbye to them too.

Xiang sighed happily and said, "We have regained peace...finally."

Hours later, they arrived to Gongmen City and as they step out, Musaki sees it for the first time and he knew that it's where the Five and Po defeated Lord Shen. He chuckled and said, "Okay, this is freakin' radical."

"Yeah. It's changed since the Dragon Warrior defeated Shen." Storming Ox said.

"I gotta say...for a huge panda, he's got the fighting skills." Croc retorted.

"I wish I could've seen that."

Later, Musaki went to this new reconstructed tower and on the front, he sees a symbolic hammer and he recognized that because it was Master Thundering Rhino's hammer. Soon, he read the inscription, 'May kung-fu live on forever.'

"We dedicated this new tower in honor of our master." Croc said.

"I'm sorry to hear about your master's loss. I know he meant a lot to you."

"He has. You know, since he died, we kinda gave up on ourselves because we let Shen take over and looking back, we kinda felt guilty about it because that panda coaxed us to get out, but the helplessness got to us and we know our master wouldn't want us to see us feel sorry for ourselves." Storming Ox retorted.

"You guys eventually defeated him, right?" asked Samurai.

"Well, we were persuaded by Shifu. He gave us some harsh truths, but we had to hear them anyway."

Some of the wolf army came over to them and Wolf Boss came to Musaki and said, "Hey, kid. If it wasn't for that fat panda, I wouldn't be standing here with this bandage on my shoulder. I'm one of them now."

"You're joining the Kung-Fu Concil?" asked Musaki.

"And my pack members."

"How did you manage to join them?"

"Croc here was checking for survivors and I guess he saw me floating on the river, still breathing. A bunch of other doctors healed me up really well and I've been staying here for 3 months now. Since then, I made a turnaround in my life and decided to protect the weak instead of making their lives miserable. My pack are the most important to me and they were willing to turn their lives around as I was."

"Awesome success story."

"We weren't sure if he was sincere, but he was willing to help reconstruct the tower with his pack and after it was completed, they're immediately one of us." Croc stated.

"That's really awesome." Arizona said.

"You and Arizona here...did an awesome job defeating Dai Ling." Storming Ox said.

Musaki chuckled and said, "Thanks."

"I think we'd better get going." Cody said.

"We appreciate your help."

"The pleasure's all ours, kid." Croc said.

"If you ever plan to visit Gongmen City, you know where to find us." Storming Ox said.

"Will do."

"Hey, kid." Wolf Boss said.

"Yeah?"

"Tell that panda me and the pack members said we're sorry and thank you."

"Okay."

They hopped back to the boat and everyone said goodbye to him as it sets sail. Storming Ox looks at the boat and said, "That kid will no doubt be one of us. I can tell that Shifu's proud of him."

Later on, Musaki sees Arizona sitting alone on the edge of the boat and he said, "Mind if I join ya?"

"Sure."

Musaki walks up and sits next to him and asked, "What's on your mind?"

"A lot of things. You came down all the way from the Valley of Peace to save me and you've been on my side, giving me happiness and love."

"I've been where you were. I know what being lonely feels like when no one else cares about you and that they say things about you that are just lies. What matters is who you are and not what anyone else thinks."

Arizona chuckled and said, "It's funny. You told me that you've been through a lot and you seem to just...smile about it and everything."

"After being adopted in the Jade Palace, I feel nothing but joy. You can feel the same way."

"I don't know. I mean...what if...what if they don't like me?"

"They will. Once you find peace, you'll most likely feel like you do belong."

"You seem wise."

"I'm 16, but I'm not too old for philosophy."

Both of them started laughing together and Samurai came from behind and said, "Are we there yet?"

"Almost, I think."

"Hope so."

Musaki turns to Arizona and said, "Once we get to the jade palace, your life will change in a second."

"Yeah, it'll be good."

Minutes later, they see Quiang and Zeng coming in front of the harbor and he puts the rope on the boat to let Musaki and the others out of there. Quiang looks at Musaki and said, "The entire valley is waiting for your arrival."

"The entire Valley of Peace?" asked Musaki.

"Yes. Crane told us that you're coming back and the whole valley heard about what you did and they're excited to see you." Zeng said.

"This must be big." Tsunami said.

Later on, Musaki walks towards the valley and to his surprise, the entire valley cheered as Musaki walks in with the others behind him. He felt surprised and said, "No kidding."

"Is this what it's like here?" asked Ruiz.

"Not really."

"Hey, boys!"

Cody turns around and he sees his dad coming in and he exclaims, "Dad!"

"Uncle Mako!"

Musaki and Zeke came towards him and hugged him tightly along with his cousins and Mako said, "My nephew...the hero! I knew you would do great things."

"I never expected any of this to happen." Musaki added.

"It's a good thing you're safe."

"Thanks. You guys can go on my next mission."

"Next mission? After this mission, we need a rest." Phoenix said.

"Yeah, it's exhausting." Max agreed.

"All right, boys. Let's head home."

"Hey, Max. Come visit me sometime, okay?" asked Musaki.

"I will." Max said.

"Nice meeting ya, Arizona, Ruiz." Cody said.

"Same here." Arizona said.

They went home, leaving Musaki, Zeke, Arizona, Ruiz, Shing and Kazuo to head to the Jade Palace. When they got there, they saw all the steps and Kazuo asked, "We have to go all these steps?"

"Oh yeah." Musaki answered.

They eventually got up there and sooner or later, they entered into the Sacred Hall of Warriors and found Shifu meditating near the Moon Pool. Musaki quietly stepped in behind him and said, "Shifu?"

Hearing his voice, Shifu opened his eyes, turns around and faces him. Musaki chuckled and said, "I'm home."

Without warning, Shifu hops onto him and hugs him tightly. He looks at him and said, "I knew you'd come home in one piece."

"I brought in...Arizona."

Shifu breaks off the hug and sees Arizona for the first time and he said, "Welcome to your new home, Arizona."

"Thank you...Shifu." Arizona said.

"And these are his friends-Ruiz, Kazuo and Shing."

"Nice to meet you." Ruiz said.

"Nice to meet you as well."

"Where's everyone else?" asked Musaki.

"Training Hall. I'll talk with the others while you go find them."

"Okay."

"Musaki? Good to have you back, my son."

Hearing that made Musaki's heart warm up and said, "Good to be back...father."

Musaki and Zeke walked off the Sacred Hall of Warriors and Zeke let Musaki know that he's gonna unpack their things leaving Musaki to walk towards the Training Hall to find the others. While on the way, he sees Po standing in front of him, looking surprised and relieved.

A few awkward silences came in and Musaki only said, "Hey, Po. I'm...I'm back home."

Soon enough, Po immediately gave him a huge hug with tears coming down on his face and said, "Lil' Saki...I'm so happy you're home."

"Me too. Like I said, I'll be back."

"I've been so scared for you while you were gone. I...I thought you wouldn't come back."

"Dude, I'm here now."

"I know. it's just that...you're my little brother. Rescue missions are really dangerous and most kung-fu masters don't make it back home alive. As young as you are, I didn't want you to go because I would be devastated if someone told me you're dead. I wouldn't live with that. You mean a lot to me and I just don't want that to go away."

Musaki never knew Po cared this much about him and Musaki hugged him as well and whispered, "You mean a lot to me too. I love you, big bro."

"I love you too, little bro...and I'm very proud of you."

Later, the Five were excited to see Musaki as they caught him hugging Po and Monkey came to hug him first along with Crane, Mantis and Viper.

"You're back!" Monkey exclaimed.

"Thank goodness you're okay!" Viper added.

"I thought we'd never see you again!" Mantis said.

"Did you get him?"

"Yep. He's with Shifu."

"Awesome. Let's go meet him." Po said.

They immediately went in to find Shifu, but not before Viper said, "Welcome back, Musaki."

And then kissed him on the cheek. Musaki chuckled softly as he felt his cheek was being kissed by Viper and he said, "I don't think I'll ever wash this again."

He made his way to the bunkhouse until Tigress came towards him. Musaki sighed heavily, thinking that she might criticize him for his first solo mission. He rolled his eyes and said, "Look, I did my mission, okay? I know that they're not easy and I see that now. What's important here is that I brought him home and that's all that matters to me. I don't care what kind of negative critic you say to me, but I guess the hardcore will always know that everything I do is not good enough. That's what you're gonna say, right? That I failed miserably. Just like I always do, but I did well. I accomplished it. No matter what you say, I accomplished it."

Tigress stayed silent and to his surprise, she quickly comes up and hugs him again. She then held onto him and gently told him, "It's not what I was gonna say. I was gonna say that...I'm really amazed that you actually succeeded. This may not be easy for me to say, but...I was wrong about you. You do have a lot of potential and it shows."

Musaki felt surprised and confused that Tigress would compliment him on his efforts. He asked, "Who are you and what have you done with the real Tigress?"

She smiled at him and punched him in the face and kicked him in the stomach. Musaki grunts in pain and said, with a strained voice, "Yeah, there it is."

"Congratulations, Musaki. You have done well."

"Thanks, Tigress."

She walks off to find Shifu and Musaki chuckled softly, thinking that he finally felt like Tigress would be cool towards him.

"Ouch! That hurts."

* * *

><p>Didn't expect that, did ya? Next chapter, more of the gang in a minute!<p> 


	22. Training and Finding Peace

Though they're new, what's an entrance to the Jade Palace without some training?

* * *

><p>Chapter 22: Training and Finding Peace<p>

Shortly afterwards, The Five and Po went inside the Sacred hall of Warriors and they saw Shing, Kazuo, Ruiz and Arizona, but their most focus is on Arizona. Soon enough, Shifu went in front of his students and he said, "Students, this is Li-Xiao Arizona. He's now our new member here in the palace thanks to Musaki's mission. Along with his friends, Tai Ruiz, Shing and Kazuo."

Arizona felt nervous around them and he only bowed to them in respect and they also bowed back. Po looked at him and said, "Don't be afraid. Anyone who's a friend of Lil' Saki is a friend of ours."

Arizona stared at Musaki, confused-like and asked, "Lil' Saki?"

"It's a nickname I gave him when he first stayed here."

"Oh...Okay."

"Well, I'm Po. You probably already know I'm the Dragon Warrior."

"I've heard about you. I just thought you'd be..."

"Faster? Stronger? Awesome?"

"Bigger."

"He is big, counting the gut." Mantis stepped in.

Viper raised her tail to swipe Mantis' head based on that comment and she said, "You'll have to forgive Mantis. He doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut."

Arizona chuckled and said, "Does this happen often?"

"Sometimes." Shifu answered.

"Anyways, we're the Furious Five." Crane said.

"I know who you guys are-Crane, Mantis, Viper, Monkey and Tigress, right?"

"This kid knows his kung-fu." Monkey said, happily.

"Are you any good?" asked Viper.

"I think so. Musaki taught me while we were venturing...only it took a few minutes. He didn't really give me much, just a few examples."

"He taught me as well." Ruiz said.

"You guys inspire me so much to get me intrested in kung-fu, though Dai Ling hates it."

"That's his loss. What's your name, kid?" asked Mantis.

"I'm Tai Ruiz. But you can call me Ruiz. I saw him and Musaki getting out of the tower and I thought maybe I should get out too because I couldn't stand any second being abused by Dai Ling anymore, so I went along with them."

"That's good to know." Tigress said.

"And I'm Kazuo and this is my brother, Shing." Kazuo stepped in.

The Five, Shifu and Po were confused with the fact that a skunk and a lion could be brothers. Kazuo also told them, "By the way, when someone asks us 'how can a skunk and a lion be brothers?', Shing doesn't take it lightly."

"How so?" asked Po.

Shing fiercely growls at Po if he starts thinking of asking that question and he immediately said, "Okay...got it."

"We went along with Musaki to come here and you can't imagine all the things we had to go through." Shing explains.

"But the good thing is that you made it safe and sound." Crane said.

"Yeah, that's the main thing."

"Now, Arizona...I've known your father when I was young. He's always generous, kind and also very fun to be around. We didn't really see each other in so long because I had to leave behind my old home and come here to learn the basis of kung-fu. But whatever the case is, I'm always happy for him for whatever he does. He also made a promise that if something happened to him, I would take you in and give you something to let you stay on the right track. Musaki has helped me fulfill that promise and because of your friendship, he's definitely helping you escape that darkness that Dai Ling put you in."

"Thanks." Arizona said.

"Now, as for your friends-how would you all like to see how we do around here?"

"I think we would love that." Kazuo said.

"Yeah, count me out on this one. My leg kinda hurts." Ruiz said.

"Hey, no worries. We'll take care of that." Po said.

"We also have medical care here as well." Shifu added.

"Good to know."

Later on, as Shifu takes Ruiz to get some medical care, Musaki walks across the Jade Palace and he hears a waterfall rushing through and as he went into where it's heading, he suddenly found something breathtaking-the Meadow of Peace. He walks through it and he sees a waterfall with boulders surrounding the place and it's completely soothing. He chuckled and said, "This is way cooler."

"So, I see you found the Meadow of Peace."

He turns around and there's Shifu coming in and he said, "I should point out that this is the one place I kept a surprise for you while you were gone."

Musaki gasped and asked, "You mean...this is mine?"

"Yes. You can use it for yoga and meditation."

Musaki covers his mouth in shock and chuckled excitedly and said, "That's amazing. No wonder you tried to keep me away from it before I even left. It looks awesome."

"You like it?"

"I love it. Thanks."

"You're welcome. Arizona, Shing and Kazuo are going to do some basic kung-fu training with the Five."

"Cool. Where's Ruiz, though?"

"I heard his ankle was injured."

"Oh, yeah. Dai Ling had to use his hammer to injure him before he died."

"Don't worry. The medical staff will take care of him."

"All right."

Musaki followed Shifu to the training hall where he sees The Five, Po, Arizona, Shing and Kazuo coming in. Right away, most of the Five already started and Arizona was the first one to have a spar with Tigress. She started using her moves on Arizona and then he flips her around the room, putting in every once of kung-fu he can use that Musaki taught him.

Afetr that, Kazuo and Shing were next to spar with Monkey and Crane. Monkey used his staff on Shing and both of them sparred with the staff and to his surprise, Shing is actually doing a lot better with it. Monkey was surprised that he learned it so quickly and he said, "Wow. A few minutes and already you got it."

"Well, I pretty much do kung-fu practicing myself." Shing said.

Crane also sparred with Kazuo and before they started, Crane told him, "Try not to spray me. You have to use something more than that."

"Okay. Sure." Kazuo said.

Crane went in for the spar and Kazuo rose up in the air going past him and landed on the other side. He also used his legs to strike him and Crane was gonna strike him back, but Kazuo was too quick for him and he immediately struck him down.

Crane panted and said, "How did you learn this?"

"Me and my brother spar mostly."

Mantis went in next with Kazuo and he started bouncing him around, but Kazuo flicked him and punched him out as well.

"I wasn't even ready yet!" Mantis whined.

"I may be smaller than everyone else, but don't think I can't do kung-fu."

Mantis quickly went to his face, but Kazuo raised his tail and sprayed him with his stink. Mantis covered his mouth and nose to avoid the smell and groans in disgust as he falls down to the ground but not before Kazuo beat him to the punch.

Then, it was Viper and Po's turn to take down all three of them. Viper was going after Kazuo and Shing while Po plans to take on Arizona. Viper strikes them down and Kazuo jumps up and got on Shing's back and then Shing does a backflip and landed on all four paws. Viper takes them down with her tail and Shing struck her down and Kazuo slid out of Shing's head and used her body as a jump rope and flew her up in the air and Shing rose up in the sky and winks at her and falls down on his feet.

Viper pants and said, "Wow. I haven't been like this since I attacked that gorilla when I was young."

Then, Po takes on Arizona and he told him, "Get ready to feel the thunder."

Po runs up to him and unexpectedly, Arizona jumps up with his legs apart and goes behind him. Arizona flips him across several times and kicks him in the face, but Po fell down to his feet and attempted to flip him back, but he did a backflip which made him miss and fell down on the ground.

Arizona chuckled and said, "This is awesome."

Po then charges at him and they both sparred with each other for a while and then, Arizona went under Po's legs and used his head to bump him in the nuts hard. Po groaned heavily and puts his hands on his manhood and said, "You..smacked my slinky."

Musaki snickered at that comment and said, "Slinky..."

"Well done. You have impressed me very well." Shifu said.

"Thanks, master." Kazuo, Shing and Arizona said.

"Arizona...excellent method on Po. I've been wanting to do that when I spar with him."

"Thanks." Arizona said.

"How'd you learn that?"

"Musaki."

Shifu turns to Musaki and said, "Now that's using your head."

Po groans in pain as he walked out of the courtyard still covering himself and said, "I gotta go..."

Mantis chuckled softly and said, "I'm sure he'll feel that in the morning."

* * *

><p>Bonding moment time! Also, I received a special guest coming up at the end of the chapter. It's the least I can do for my friend, Tan-Tan Tanuki. I'll let you guess who it is.<p>

* * *

><p>Later on, Arizona walked around and steps in the Meadow of Peace, hoping to find some peace himself. He walks in through one of the boulders, sits down, crosses his legs, closed his eyes and thinks peaceful thoughts.<p>

As he starts thinking, he suddenly feels his father's prescence coming around him, telling him that he should go in peace and find it within himself. For the first time, he's finally found something he's been harboring for.

"So, I see you found my new sanctuary."

Arizona opens his eyes and sees Musaki coming from behind and he said, "I just found this place. It's so..."

"Peaceful?"

"Yeah."

Arizona dips his foot in the water for a while and he takes a deep sigh and feels relaxed all over and he said, "You know, I've never meditated before."

"You haven't?" asked Musaki.

"No. My life was filled with misery and loneliness by Dai Ling's negativity until I met you."

Musaki takes off his sandals and sits next to Arizona dipping his feet in the water too and said, "Like I said, what matters is what you think of yourself. In kung-fu, you have to be the best you can be and you can still be awesome."

"Yeah. I don't know...I'm like surrounded by good people who have been doing kung-fu in like years and I don't know what's this feeling I have when I'm around them."

"Awestruck?"

"Kinda. But also..."

"Nervous?"

"Yeah? How'd you know?"

"Been there before. I'll be honest, for me it's kinda nerve-racking being around the kung-fu masters, but as time went on, I started feeling more comfortable with them knowing they have my back. But the good way to start is with Po and Shifu. they'll pretty much help you get past everything you've been through so you can have a new life."

Arizona let out a small smile and asked, "Think I can do it?"

"I know you can. You just have to believe in yourself."

"Okay."

"Cool."

Suddenly, Musaki turns around and sees a dog coming in with mp3 headphones on his ears and said, "Hey, Saki!"

"Ichi! What's up, buddy?"

They both hug each other and they said in unison, "You look good. Thanks, so do you."

Ichi starts laughing and Musaki asked, "How've ya been?"

"Awesome. You?"

"Just got back from my first solo rescue mission."

"Oh yeah. Shifu told me about that. How was it?"

"Ex-haust-ing. But awesome actually."

Ichi turns his attention to Arizona and asked, "Who's he?"

"This is my new friend, Arizona. Arizona, this is Kageichi."

"You can call me Ichi, for short." Ichi said.

"Nice to meet you." Arizona said.

"Is he your new friend?"

"Yep. I should point out-and I hope you won't be too upset about this-that he's my new best friend."

"New best friend?"

"Yeah."

"No probs. Anyone who's best friends with Musaki is pretty cool."

"Thanks."

"Also, this is my new sanctuary. Shifu told me about it not too long ago."

"Oh, yeah. I kinda helped him out."

"Really? That's cool, man."

"Glad ya like it."

"How long have you guys known each other?" asked Arizona.

"2 years." Musaki answered.

"And we've been good friends ever since."

"Also, you just missed training. Arizona kicked Po in the groin...with his head."

Ichi started laughing hysterically and asked Arizona, "You used your head to kick Po in the nuts?"

"Yeah, I did."

"I would've love to have seen that."

They were all talking and such and got to know each other really well and Arizona felt that this change will work out really well with Musaki by his side and he can finally live in peace.

* * *

><p>You thought that was it? You haven't seen anything yet. There's more around the bend, so stick around!<p> 


	23. Membership

This might come with a few surprises. Don't worry; Arizona, Kazuo and Shing and Ruiz are gonna be accepted as members in the palace.

* * *

><p>Chapter 23: Membership<p>

Later on, a few of the medical bunnies came in the room and Ruiz had some bandages on his ankle and a few acupunctures on his face to make him feel no pain at all. One of them asked, "How are you feeling?"

Ruiz groans and replied, "Fine, I guess. But what's with all the needles?"

"Acupuncture. It'll help ease the pain away."

He seemed very unsure about this and asked, worriedly, "Are you sure?"

"We are trained professionals. Master Mantis is actually a skilled master at the art of acupuncturing."

"Is that right?"

"Yes."

"We're gonna put this on your injured spot."

Ruiz began to feel very nervous about sticking a needle on his ankle because he felt that it'll hurt even more. One of the meds see his worry and said, "Do not worry. It won't hurt."

"You promise?"

"I've done this for years."

Ruiz shuddered quietly as the doctor put the needle onto his foot and once it's in there, he winces a little and hopes that there won't be any blood coming out of him. As more comes in, Ruiz kept his eyes closed and groans softly in pain as this happens. Within a few minutes, he felt no amount of pain anywhere. He opened his eyes and sees his foot covered in acupuncture needles and to his surprise, it didn't hurt much.

Ruiz chuckled and said, "Hey, this isn't bad at all."

"See what I mean? Acupuncture is a remedy that'll help relieve any kinds of pain and heals sickness. The main thing is to help you, not hurt you."

"I guess I never looked at it this way."

"Can you walk now?"

The doctors helped Ruiz take the bandage off of his foot and he sat up, puts both feet on the floor and when he planned to stand up, his used to be injured foot was suddenly healed. He chuckles softly and he starts walking and to his surprise, he seems fine as if he was never injured at all.

"Wow."

"Impressive, huh?"

"I'll say. Thanks."

"You're welcome."

Ruiz left the room feeling like he's been healed and for the first time in his life, he suddenly feels like the emotional pain he's been dealing with for 14 years has been faded away really quickly. He chuckled softly as he went towards the hallway to the bunkhouse and he caught up with Zeke, who just walked out of Musaki's room.

"Hey, Zeke."

Zeke looks up and sees Ruiz walking by and said, "Hey. You're walking."

"Yeah, I just got acupunctured."

"I heard those always make you feel better. Mantis is like the mastermind of the acupuncturing."

"Some of the medical doctors handled it. I never actually thought something like this could be happening."

"You'd be surprised."

Ruiz chuckled softly and asked, "Where's everyone else?"

"Outside."

Zeke and Ruiz headed out of the bunkhouse and they see Musaki, Arizona and another person coming in with them, which caught Ruiz's attention. Musaki was surprised that Ruiz was walking and asked, "Acupuncture?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"I heard that it's a kind of thing that makes you feel better; like relieves pain, heals sickness and whatever. Mantis wanted me to try it out, but I'm still scared to try it out."

"How so?"

"I have a phobia of needles."

"You? A phobia?"

Musaki glared at him and said, "Even aspiring masters have phobias."

Ruiz then asked,"Who's he?"

Musaki took a look at Ichi and he said, "This is my friend, Ichi. Ichi, this is Ruiz."

"Nice to meet you." Ichi said.

Ruiz shook his hand and said, "Nice to meet you too. You guys know each other?"

"We go back 2 years."

"2 years?"

"Yep."

"Me and Ichi have a few things in common-we love kung-fu, we were in the Bao Gu Orphanage-though we never met before-, we love manga and both of our father's side are Japanese."

Ichi paused for a second and asked, "What?"

"I guess I forgot to tell you. Just like your dad, my dad has a Japanese heritage and my mom's Chinese."

"Ohh..that's awesome."

"So...it must means we're like brothers or cousins or something because I kinda understood a little bit of Japanese."

"Amazing."

"And also...my birth name is Xing-Fu Musaki Ko-Kanji Akio-Meng Cheng Xi-Wang. It's a combination of Chinese and Japanese names."

"Whoa..."

"How'd you guys meet?" asked Arizona.

"Actually, we first met while I was attacked by boars and Ichi kinda rescued me and we quickly became friends since then. We kinda connected with each other right away because we lost both of our parents when we were three years old; though it kinda happened differently. My parents were killed by Tai Lung and...well, he kinda...killed them by accident."

Arizona and Ruiz were stunned after what Musaki just said and Ruiz asked, "You killed your parents?"

"Yeah, but I didn't mean to. The thing is...my father has a demon side and I guess it displayed it to me. I'm also normal on my mom's though."

"It's been really hard on him after that and he has a fear that no one will accept him for who he is and he thinks that he'll be looked at as a monster."

Arizona could see that Musaki accepts him though he has a demon side to him and he's willing to accept him too. He chuckled and said, "Sounds like you've got a good friend."

"He has been. He's been a good friend to me."

Ruiz smiled and said, "Listen, forgive me if I viewed this the wrong way, but when Musaki told me that you killed your parents, I thought that you might be really be..."

"A killer?"

"How'd you know?"

"I get tortured by it because of it, but no one really sees me for who I am and it really ticks me off any given chance."

"Me and Arizona understand where you're coming from. We would be judged harshly thinking that the way we are is considered unaccepting to the world or the fact that being friends with others is considered weakness."

"Who told you something stupid like that?"

"Dai Ling. He's a cruel dude, but he's dead now."

"Good riddance too." Zeke replied.

"Wanna see what the others are up to?"

"Yep."

They headed to the training hall where the others are training as well. Shifu sees Musaki, Zeke, Arizona, Ruiz and Ichi come in there and Shifu sees that Ruiz is walking; meaning that his leg was healed.

"Hello, all." Shifu said.

"Hey." everyone said, in unison.

"Ichi, I didn't expect to see you here."

"Just thought I came to hang with Musaki for a while." Ichi replied.

"Great to see you again, son."

"You too, dad."

Shifu stared at Ruiz's foot and said, "I see you're walking, Ruiz."

"Yeah, I've gotten acupunctured. The doctors told me that this was the way to relieve pain and injuries."

"Ah, yes. You must be feeling better, I see."

"Yeah. I guess."

"So are you ready for sparring?"

Ruiz looked at his foot and sees that he is capable of sparring and replied, "I'm up for it."

Later on, he faced with the Five and Ruiz looked at them straight in the eye and started sparring with them. Tigress was the first to spar with him using her moves and agility and Ruiz took every ounce of his moves he can muster. He quickly did a reverse backflip and landed on the ground and then flips Tigress in mid-air and she lands on her feet.

Then, Crane came in and plans to use the arrows to see if he can use balance to dodge them out of the way, which he did really well. Crane chuckled and then flew towards him and Ruiz does the backflip and then a forward flip and lands on the ground.

Monkey was the next one to spar with and they used the bamboo sticks to enchance their flexibility and Ruiz became a quick learner from this. Monkey goes off quickly and Ruiz used his moves to go more flexible than anything. He jumps up and continues to spar with Monkey and as the sticks hone together, Monkey could tell that he's getting good...for the first time.

Viper went in and she used her tail to take him down, but he went back on his feet and dodged her moves and spun around, did a backflip and leaped up in the air and landed on the ground. She came across him and used her tail to spike him, but managed to grab her body and threw her up in the air then, when she came down, he slowly leaned backwards and held it there defying gravity.

Mantis went next and he flipped Ruiz multiple times going up and down and across. Ruiz dodged his moves, but being extra careful not to squish him. Mantis tried to grab him again, but Ruiz was quick to miss, which made him frustrated than ever.

Po went ahead with his bulky style and planned to use his new-found moves on Ruiz. He leaped up and Ruiz went under him and came back from behind. He then flipped him back and forth, seeing his body jiggle. Po removed him and continued sparring with him; just punching, kicking, shoving and everything. Ruiz went ahead, jumped up on Po's belly and bodyslammed him down.

Lastly, Shifu went ahead along with Arizona, Kazuo and Shing to spar with him. Shifu quickly went ahead to spar them, but the four were quick to dodge his moves. Arizona went ahead first and quickly dodged his moves, but Shifu knew what he might get, so he did a backflip and flipped him over, but Arizona stood up and went in kung-fu mode to take him down. Ruiz went next and went ahead to use a staff to take him down and both of them were sparring with each other very quickly. Kazuo and Shing went ahead and Shing leaped up on the ground and went in self-defense and Kazuo went ahead and tackled him.

Shifu looks at both of them and smiled and told them, "Congratulations. You have earned the membership of being one of us."

Everyone started cheering and clapping for them and all four of them felt like the earned the respect of Master Shifu and everyone else around him. The others went and bowed to them as the others bowed to him as well.

Later that evening, Shifu was meditating at the Dragon Grotto, just garnering more inner peace.

"Shifu?"

He soon heard Musaki's voice coming from behind him and he kept his eyes closed and said, "Come in, Musaki. I want to talk to you for a second."

Musaki didn't expect that to happen, but he sat down on the ground and asked, "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"Your mission."

"My mission?"

"Yes. As much as I'm proud of you that you have fulfilled it, while you were gone, I was definitely worried about you."

"You were?"

"Yes. After you left, I felt like I was making a big mistake letting you go on your own. I was afraid if something might happen to you and that you would be hurt."

"Why did you want me to go?"

"To see if you're ready for it. There will be a lot of dangerous missions you'll face on your own, which is what I fear the most. I've seen you in every mission where I thought I might lost you. I would be devastated if you died and I wasn't there to protect you."

Musaki could quickly see Shifu's eyes welling up with tears and he said, "I was thinking the same thing too. I was scared that I might fail you."

"You could never fail me. I'm proud of you at everything you do. You mean a lot to me, Musaki...and I am grateful to have you as both a master...and a son. When I see you, I see a strong, amazing person that any master would be lucky to have and you've been through a lot in these couple of years. You managed to keep yourself steady when things go wrong and you always fight for what's right. If there are a million ways that I say I'm proud of you, I would use those words right now."

Musaki smiled at me and said, "Thanks, Shifu. It feels great to accomplish something that I never thought I would do before."

Shifu comes to him and gives Musaki a hug and he whispered, "Always remember...that I'm proud of you and that I love you, my son."

Musaki closed his eyes and lets out one tear and said, "I love you too...dad."

They kept hugging each other, unaware that Arizona was watching the whole thing and he never thought he would see a father/son bonding moment like that because he never got to see what it feels like. He got a little misty-eyed and tears started to form his eyes and thought to himself, 'I never thought love between a father and a son would be like this.'

He missed on what it really feels like, but he feels his father's love around him anyway as he embraces his new life at the Jade Palace and he knows that this will stay close to his heart.

* * *

><p>Kinda awesome, huh? Stick around for more epicness!<p> 


	24. New Feeling

A heartfelt moment between Arizona and Musaki. Friendship grows stronger than anything.

* * *

><p>Chapter 24: New Feeling<p>

Minutes later, Arizona walks over to the Sacred Peach Tree and sits down on the ground, looking up at the stars and he's reflecting on what he's been through and how his journey from getting out of Kong Wolf City to where he is now seemed to change his life. He looks over at the moon and the stars, thinking about his father and whispered, "Dad...thank you for saving my life...and I'm sorry that I wrongly resented you thinking that you abandoned me. But I knew I was wrong...especially when you were watching over me the whole time. I just wished I would've spent more time with you."

Tears started to fall down from his eyes and he closed his eyes for a minute and he whispered, "I love you, dad."

"I see you found my first sancutary."

Arizona opens his eyes, turns around and sees Musaki coming from behind him. He chuckled and said, "How'd you find me?"

"It's where I always come when I feel like I wanna escape or just go away for a while or have some time for myself. It's basically a little place for me to regain peace."

"I can see why."

Musaki walks up towards him, sits down next to him and asked, "So...what's on your mind?"

Arizona sighed and told him, "I kinda heard you talking to Shifu a few minutes ago and he told me that he means a lot to you. What does he mean by that?"

Musaki knew where this was going and he explains, "Well...prior to this, he told me that one day I'll fulfill a mission on my own without him, Po and the Five. And I can sense that there was worry on his eyes. I didn't question it, but I can sense it. He just couldn't escape the fact that he wants to see me get hurt because if something happened to me, he could never forgive himself by not saving me in time. I didn't want to make him feel bad, but the reason why is even though he's strict and tough at times, he's really caring...kinda like a father at times."

"How is that possible?"

"Well...the first time I came here after I got adopted, I was so nervous thinking what if they don't like me or if I'm not welcome here because these are experience kung-fu masters...although Po became a kung-fu master in like a week or something. As the months dragged on, Shifu seemed like the only person I like to be around with and he became my mentor in a way of not just kung-fu, but life in general. He's often told me that I'm like a son to him and that he doesn't want to make the same mistakes with me as he did with Tai Lung-you know, about changing me into something he doesn't want to see me become like him. I've already gotten some grief with Tai Lung enough, after he killed my parents when I was three. He made a promise to me that he'll be a better master and a father to me and he kept that promise ever since."

Arizona took a deep breath, looked surprised about that and he said, "Wow. I never knew he meant a lot to you."

"Dude, there are a million and one things you don't know about me."

"For 14 years, I've been Dai Ling's toy soldier that always get tossed around for no reason because I'm different. It's something I can't get over and...like I said, I see people in Kong Wolf City get tortured, abused and torment by Dai Ling and his stupid army and they're just innocent people going about on their day. I hear a lot of kids crying everyday and every chance I get to help them, they wouldn't let me because they say 'they deserve it' or that they show weakness. It just made me feel so helpless and so angry that I couldn't do anything about it. There were so many points in my life that I wish I can take away my life and not live anymore so I would be free from all the pain and suffering Dai Ling put me through. You know what that does to you? It just makes you feel like...like crap and you don't have any hope in you."

Musaki sighed heavily at that comment and told Arizona, "if you had taken your life, you wouldn't be here now."

"Yeah, I know. I'm just gonna be faced with a new challenge. When I look at this place, this entire valley...everyone's so happy and peaceful here."

"Of course it's peaceful. Why do you think the name 'Valley of Peace' stands for?"

"Good point."

"Listen, you've been through a lot in your life. I can understand that. But you can't let the past define you into who you are now. All you have to do is get rid of all the bad memories from the past and make some new memories...some really good memories."

"Good memories?"

"Yeah. You got to learn kung-fu, you got to meet Shifu, The Furious Five and the Dragon Warrior, you met your old friends, you got rescued by me and now you get to live here."

Arizona thought twice for a minute and said, "Yeah, those are good memories, aren't they?"

"Yeah they are. All you have to do is make the most of it."

"You're right."

"How are you feeling now?"

"I...don't know. It's like...I got this new feeling inside of me...like something good."

"It's called courage."

Musaki and Arizona turned around and there's Ichi walking towards them. He explained, "Shifu told me that if I'm fighting for something I love and i'm willing to do whatever I can to help, that's courage."

"Courage?" asked Arizona.

"Yeah. Have you ever had it before?"

"No. I've heard of it before, but I never really felt it."

Ichi chuckled and said, "You remind me of myself when I first spent my first weeks here. I never really understood what courage or love was because I spent most of my early life in loneliness after I killed my parents. But after awhile, everything changed. The feeling you have will stay with you for as long as you live."

Arizona blinked a few times, then turned to Musaki and Ichi and told them, "I never knew it was like that before."

"Those feelings that you care about someone that's close to you...they'll never go away, Zona. It stays."

Arizona smiles at Musaki and then hugs him deeply and he said, "I've never had a friend like you before."

"I'll always be here for you. Never forget that, okay?"

"I promise."

Ichi joins in the hug as well and all three of them formed a group bond that will never be broken. Arizona looks up at the sky again and thought, 'I'lm willing to make you proud, dad.'

A week after the mission, Musaki, Arizona, Ruiz, Ichi, Kazuo and Shing did some training together alongside Tigress, Crane and Viper. Tigress made a backflip and did an aerial-kick in the air maneuver and landed on her feet and barely broke a sweat.

"Wow, she's good." Kazuo said, with awe.

Musaki scoffs and exclaimed, "Show-off!"

Tigress glared at Musaki and scoffs back at him and keeps on practicing her moves. Ruiz asked, "What's with you and Tigress?"

"It's like sibling rivalry. Both of us were in the Bao Gu Orphanage...though we never met there. When I came here, she wasn't quite cool with me being here because of my moves and that I kinda get compared to Po, which is a lie. We love to hate each other's guts all the time. Plus, I'm twice skilled as she is."

"Still going at each other, huh?" asked Ichi.

Musaki glared at him and asked, "What do you think?"

"I think you're right."

Then, Crane swoops in and dodges every arrow in rapid speed while on the turtle shell. Musaki cheers for him and exclaims, "That's my big bro!"

Then, Viper dodges some flames, showing much flexibility as she goes up, down, all around, vertical and horizon and goes up in the air and lands back down. Musaki sighed softly and said, "And to think I had a crush on her. Now living here, it would be awkward but we're like brother and sister anyway."

"You had a crush on Viper?" asked Ruiz.

"Yep."

"I always thought that everyone else had a crush on Tigress." Kazuo added.

"Eyuuuu...that's sick. Besides, she's too old for me."

Tigress froze for a second by that comment, turned to Musaki, growls at him and asked, "You said something, Musaki?"

"I said...this move is too...bold for me to do. That could take years to master something like that."

"Yes...it is."

Then, he mutters in Ichi's ear, "And obviously, she's done well with her fat tiger-blood ego."

Later on, Shifu came in the training hall with two visitors-Emperor Huang di and his daughter, Kuro. Ichi came out and embraced her and bowed to the emperor as well. He said, "How you doing?"

"Really well. And yourself?" asked the emperor.

"The same. So, what brings you here?"

"I came here looking for a Xing-Fu."

"Xing-Fu?"

"Yes. Do you know him?"

Suddenly, Musaki walks out and sees that he has visitors and said, "Hello there."

"Musaki, this is my old friend, Emperor Huang di and his daughter, Kuro." Shifu said.

"Nice to meet you." Kuro said, with a smile.

"Likewise, I'm sure."

"I see you met Ichi."

"You guys know each other?"

"We go back several years." Ichi said.

"I see."

"Musaki, he's come looking for you."

"For me?"

"Yes. I've heard that you defeated Dai Ling this past week and I came here to give you an invitation as our guest of honor."

Musaki was surprised when Huang di told him that he's guest of honor. He chuckled softly and said, "Whoa...guest of honor?"

"Yes. We would like for you and your friends as well as your family to head over to this event held at my kingdom later this week. It's just gonna be a lot of fun and things like that."

"Should I wear something...elegant?"

"It's perfectly fine with whatever you have on that suits you."

"Well...thanks."

"Whoa...Musaki, a guest of honor. How awesome is that?" asked Ichi.

"My dad is also having a dance held at that party as well, so you and Ichi get to come too."

"Radical." Musaki said, happily.

Arizona came out and asked, "What's up?"

"Musaki's the guest of honor!" Ichi blurted out.

"Um...what he meant was because of Dai Ling's death, we're gonna celebrate it."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Well, I mean we both defeated him, so we might as well."

Arizona chuckled and said, "That'd be awesome."

Shifu smiled at said, "We will be there. When is it?"

"This Friday."

"Perfect. Thank you, old friend."

"You're quite welcome."

* * *

><p>Musaki...a guest of honor? Wonder what's gonna happen next? One way to find out...<p>

Also, I'm wishing my awesome friend, Tan-Tan Tanuki a happy early birthday. It's from me and Musaki. Hope it's cool if I used your characters in this story. And Musaki wants to wish Ichi a happy early birthday as well since your birthday is September 11th. Hope you have an awesome birthday on 9/11.


	25. The Celebration

And the celebration commences. A mixture of hilarious and heart coming in this chapter.

* * *

><p>Chapter 25: The Celebration<p>

Days later, everyone was getting ready for the celebration and Musaki suddenly felt a little nervous about being guest of honor because he's never had anything like that before. He brought in a straw hat and a silver grey cape along with matching wristbands. He didn't really know what to wear for the attire or how would they dress like.

Shifu came in the room and when he saw Musaki's outfit, he could see that it might be a little too much. Musaki then asked, "How do I look?"

"Quite dapper, but the emperor said go with what suits you." Shifu replied.

"What's wrong with this?"

"The wristbands...are a little too much."

Musaki quickly removed the wristbands and Shifu could sense that he's really nervous about this. He came towards him and said, "To be a guest of honor, you have to make an impression."

"How so?"

"For one thing-it's important to be polite and be very well-dressed. You can lose the cape, but keep the straw hat."

Musaki removes the cape from behind and only had the straw hat on and Shifu chuckled and said, "Now that's well-dressed."

He tips his straw hat, looks at himself and realized that he looks really good with the straw hat on and said, "Yeah, I guess it could work."

"Brilliant." Shifu said, with a smile.

Later on, everyone else got ready for the occasion as they met up in the hallway and Musaki was surprised to see Arizona and Ruiz wearing some clean shorts for the first time. He gasped and chuckled and said, "Looks like some girls might be all over you."

"I wouldn't count on it." Arizona said, chuckling.

"Where'd you guys get these?"

"Viper and Po brought those for us. We only had the same raggedy shorts most of our lives back at Kong Wolf City and they thought that it'd be cool if we got some new shorts and stuff." Ruiz answered.

"I gotta say...you look amazing."

"So are you."

"Oh, thanks. Dress to impress. Although...this hat makes me feel a little...silly."

Then, Po comes out of the room with some new shorts, but he noticed the rips on the front and a medium-sized hole in the back and Musaki tried to hold his laughter, not wanting Po to know that half of his butt cheeks were visible and said, "Well...at least in silliness, I'm in second place."

Arizona and Ruiz saw the unknown fashion mishap that Po had and they stifled their laughter to hold it in, hoping that Po won't notice. He then turns around and said, "You guys feel a draft?"

"No." Musaki said, snickering.

"Not at all." Arizona added.

"We're good." Ruiz said.

Then, Ichi comes in the hallway with a black t-shirt with dark blue jeans and told him, "I think I have a little bit of a weird fashion mishap."

Then, he sees the back of Po's shorts with a medium-sized hole in it and he snickered softly and said, "Weird fashion mishap until I saw that."

"You...wanna tell him?" asked Musaki.

"I think he'll figure it out on his own."

"Yeah, good point."

Suddenly, Shifu comes in the hallway, seeing Arizona, Ruiz, Ichi and Musaki in perfect condition and said, "Excellent attires. You look like you're ready for the evening."

"Thanks, Shifu." Ichi said.

Then, to his surprise, he sees the back of Po's shorts and noticed that half of his butt cheeks were showing. At that moment, Musaki and the others held their laughter at the hallway as they excused themselves and made their way out.

Shifu exhaled deeply both in shock and in annoyance and he said, "Master Po."

Po turns around and said, "Yes, master?"

"I see you have a little...rip on your new shorts."

"What...what rip?"

"Look behind, panda."

Po quickly turns around and barely noticed a rip on the back of the shorts and said, "I don't see it."

He sighed annoyed-like and said sternly, "Look again."

Then, he looked again and then, he finally sees that half of his butt was showing. He gasped in shock and then, felt super-embarassed for not noticing it and said, "I just bought these. I didn't know there was a hole on the back of my new shorts."

"We did." Musaki said.

"Why didn't you tell me this?"

"We thought it'd be better if you found out for youself. It's funnier that way."

"Panda...can you put on your old shorts?"

"Yes, master."

Po went back to the room to change very embarassed unaware that Shifu stifled his laughter as he went out of the hallway.

Later on, everyone was set to head out to Huang di's kingdom to attend Huang di's event and when they got there, they were greeted by a few locals there and they saw massive decorations coming all over the city.

"This is different last time we came here." Mantis said.

"That's because they decorated." Viper added.

"I knew that."

Soon enough, they were all greeted by Master Croc and Master Storming Ox and bowed to them. They also bowed to Musaki as well and he bowed to them back. Croc asked,"How ya been, kid?"

"Pretty good. You?"

"The same. It's amazing that you came here."

"Thanks."

"So, Huang di is waiting for you at the palace. We're gonna have a dinner and Kuro's got this dance thing happening on the other side of the tower." Storming Ox explained.

"I guess we're gonna party tonight, huh?" asked Zeke.

"You could say that."

As they went in the building, Huang di was standing at the front of the building where he sees Musaki and the others coming in. They greeted him and Kuro and a few minutes later, they all sat down on his huge table for dinner and Musaki became totally blown away by everything. He chuckled and said, "Wow. That is awesome."

"I'll say." Po added.

To his surprise, some of the kung-fu masters and students are in the table as well and most of the wolves from Kong Wolf City were also there as well. Huang di gathered their attention and said, "Good evening, everyone. We have gathered here today to congratulate our guest of honor-Xing-Fu Musaki Ko-Kanji Akio-Meng Cheng Xi Wang-for the defeat of Dai Ling and bringing a young wolf out of the tower and for bringing peace to Kong Wolf City. As a thank-you for it, we are honored to give you a feast of gratitude."

Everyone applauded for him and Musaki felt really surprised by all this. Kuro stood up and said, "You got any words, Musaki?"

Musaki stood up and everyone stood up as well and he said, "Well...I gotta say, this was a surprise for me. My mission was to just bring Arizona and bring him back to the Valley of Peace. I never expected that anyone would know I would be coming there and bring peace to their home. I gotta be honest, rescue missions are not easy. Me and Arizona developed a close bond with each other and we both defeated Dai Ling together and some of the army guards...kinda fleed or got killed or whatever. But the one thing that kept me going was my family. With everything that I do, I am deeply appreciated for how my life would be for the past 3 years and I'm really happy to be here. So thank you guys very much."

Everyone cheered and applauded his name, which made Musaki feel accomplished and then he looks at Arizona and gave him a thumbs-up. Shifu then said, "Let us enjoy this feast before the Dragon Warrior leaves us with only crumbs."

And they had a ginormous feast that they savored and Musaki definitely felt like this was the most amazing part. Hours later, Musaki, Ichi, Arizona, Ruiz, Kazuo, Zeke and Shing went to another section of the tower where the dance was taking place.

The music starts playing and everyone was dancing. Kuro danced with Ichi while the others danced with everyone else. It was a lot of fun for them. Then, Kuro heads to the stage to set up a singing contest and everyone participated in the event and the next one Kuro called was Arizona and Ichi.

They both came to the stage and Arizona said, "This is a song that Ichi wrote a few years ago and I guess we're gonna perform it together."

"This song comes from a very special place in my life where someone I know has been my friend through everything I've been through and my life has turned from negative to positive and shined a light from my darkness." Ichi added.

"Mine too. And I hope you like it."

Ichi brought out his guitar, starts strumming it and Arizona starts singing to the crowd.

_Everyone knows_

_that I'm 10 feet under_

_till you come along and brighten my day_

_Everyone knows_

_that you kill the thunder_

_the roaring in my brain is giving me the strength_

_To see right through the haze..._

_Both: Shine, come on and let it shine_

_Light me up make me feel alive_

_You've got what it takes_

_Ichi: Shine on me today..._

_Both: Shine and only you know how_

_to lift my spirit off the ground_

_and chase those clouds away..._

_Shine on me today..._

_Ichi: When everything's wrong_

_I just pick myself up_

_the sound of your voice_

_Well, it fills my eyes_

_Arizona: With tears of joy_

_Cuz I know you'll be there_

_when I'm hanging by a thread_

_Both: You're my heaven-sent_

_Shine, come on and let it shine_

_Light me up, make me feel alive_

_You've got what it takes_

_Arizona: Shine on me today..._

_Both: Shine and only you know how_

_to lift my spirit off the ground_

_and chase those clouds away..._

_Ichi: Oh, I have this way _

_of making me feel like I can fly_

_You're underneath my wings_

_so I won't free-fall out of the sky_

_Arizona: You're always there to save me_

_You know ya save me..._

_Both: Shine!_

_Come on and let it shine_

_Light me up, make me feel alive_

_You've got what it takes_

_Ichi: You've got what it takes!_

_Both: Shine on me today_

_Shine and only you know how_

_to lift my spirit off the ground_

_and chase those clouds away..._

_Come on and shine!_

_Shine..._

_Shine on me_

_Shine on me, shine on me tonight..._

_Yeah!_

_Shine on me today..._

_Ichi: Everyone knows_

_that I'm 10 feet under_

_Arizona: Till you come along_

_Both: And brighten my world..._

All of them cheered and applauded and Musaki immediately knew who they were singing about...him. He can tell that they were staring at him throughout the song because he does shine on them. Ichi left the stage and Musaki said, "Thanks, dude."

"You're my best friend." Ichi added.

Arizona remained on the stage and felt really emotional about letting go like this before. He also said, "I have another song that I wrote myself. I was in a dark state in my life back in Kong Wolf City and Dai ling told me that I would never amount to anything or that the world doesn't accept me because of the way I am. Well, this one proves that no matter what, yeah I'm different, but I'm stronger than anything. You can break me, but I can still rise up."

A few tears were coming out of his face and said, tearfully, "And I just want to share that with you guys tonight."

The piano starts playing and his voice became tearful as he sang it in front of everyone.

_Skies are crying_

_I am watching_

_Catching teardrops in my hands_

_Only silence has its ending_

_Like we never had a chance_

_Do you have to make me feel like_

_there's nothing left of me?_

_You can take everything I have_

_You can break everything I am_

_like I'm made of glass_

_Like I'm made of paper_

_Go on and try to tear me down_

_I will be rising from the ground_

_Like a skyscraper_

_like a skyscraper..._

_As the smoke clears_

_I awaken and untangle you from me_

_Would it make you feel better_

_to watch me while I bleed?_

_All my windows still are broken_

_But I'm standing on my feet_

_You can take everything I have_

_You can break everything I am_

_Like I'm made of glass_

_Like I'm made of paper_

_Go on and try to tear me down_

_I will be rising from the ground_

_like a skyscraper_

_like a skyscraper!_

_Go run, run run_

_I'm gonna stay right here_

_Watch you disappear, yeah..._

_Go run, run, run_

_Yeah, it's a long way down_

_But I am closer to the clouds up here_

_You can take everything I have_

_You can break everything I am_

_Like I'm made of glass_

_Like I'm made of paper, ohh..._

_Go on and try to tear me down_

_I will be rising from the ground_

_like a skyscraper_

_like a skyscraper...!_

_like a skyscraper_

_like a skyscraper...!_

_like a skyscraper..._

A massive cheer and applause came and a standing ovation brought in from the audience made Arizona feel invincible that it was his story that spreads through the song. Musaki, Zeke, Ruiz, Shing and Kazuo were amazed by his voice, Ichi, Po, Shifu and the Five were shedding tears in happiness that it was very brave of him to come forward with that statement knowing that he'll be stronger no matter what.

* * *

><p>Humorous, awesome and emotional...those are my specialties when making fics like this, but mostly the heartfelt stuff that touches everyone's heartstrings. The two songs were 'Shine' from Hilary Duff and 'Skyscraper' from Demi Lovato. On the next chapter, I'm gonna close it out with an awesome heartfelt story. Stick around!<p> 


	26. Song for Family

This is a wrap-up for the story and it ends with a heartfelt tone.

* * *

><p>Chapter 26: Song for Family<p>

Later on, Musaki went up on the stage and then he looks down and sees Po, Shifu, the Five, Ichi, Arizona, Ruiz, Kazuo, Zeke and Shing standing there giving him his support. He knew then that they would have his back. He captured their attention and told them, "Being the guest of honor is awesome. I've never been guest of anything before. I was just some person that lost my parents 13 years ago and I suffered the grief in 10 of those 13 years until I got adopted by this amazing family of kung-fu masters that have been putting me on a positive path that I needed. I felt like I was alone in the world where no one would actually care about me because of my tragedy and also for the way I am, but as the years went by after I was in the Jade Palace, things looked up for me. I got a family, reunited with some old friends, met my long-lost brother for the first time, made some new friends, went on numerous missions with my family, taught kung-fu, saw my relatives for the first time and got on my own solo mission. I never really thought I would be the one to get this far. I know my parents are proud of me right now that they're watching me down in the sky telling me, 'Musaki...we are happy that you adapted yourself into a new life with your family and we are really proud of you for everything.' It really touched me knowing that all these three years I felt love all over. Anyways, I wrote this song like a few days after being back home on my rescue mission and it's dedicated to my adopted family as well as my friends and I know that i would give my life for you anyway I can because you've done so much for me and I'm willing to do whatever I can to do the same. I hope you like it."

Everyone started cheering and applauding and then, Musaki got on the piano and he started playing a song and as the audience is listening, Musaki let loose and started singing.

_Look into my eyes  
>You will see, what you mean to me<br>Search your heart, search your soul  
>When you find me then, you'll search no more<em>

_Don't tell me it's not worth trying for_  
><em>You can't tell me it's not worth dying for<em>  
><em>You know it's true, everything I do, I do it for you<em>

_Look into your heart, you will find  
>There is nothing there to hide<br>Take me as I am, take my life  
>I would give it all, I would sacrifice<em>

_Don't tell me it's not worth fighting for_  
><em>I can't help it, there's nothing I want more<em>  
><em>You know it's true, everything I do, I do it for you<em>

_There is no love, like your love  
>And no other, could give me more love<br>There's nowhere, unless you're there  
>All the time, all the way...!<em>

Soon enough, Arizona's eyes were welling up with tears and Shifu and Po were in tears as well because they didn't expect Musaki to dedicate a song to them with an undying affection to know that he's been loved for everything that has happened within the past 3 years.

"That's my son." Shifu whispered, tearfully.

Then, Musaki stood up and belted it out like never before as the music comes in from behind and the audience cheered for him and he faced them with more emotions to pour out.

_You can't tell me it's not worth trying for  
>Just can't help it, there's nothing in the world I want more<br>I would fight for you, yeah I'd lie for you  
>Walk the wire for you, yeah I'd die for you...<em>

Then, there was a 7-second pause for a minute as Musaki finished it off with a soft, emotional tone to his voice as he sung his last verse.

_You know it's true  
>Everything I do, I do it for you...<em>

The song ends and there's a massively ginormous sound of thunderous cheers and applause for Musaki and most of them were in tears as they all stood up and cheered for him. Musaki looks over at the crowd and he sees that he's in his happy state right now and he looks down and sees Po, Shifu, the Five and his friends cheering for him. He smiles at them and said, "Thank you. Thanks a lot."

Later on, Musaki walks towards the other side of the kingdom and he saw the Wolf Boss standing in front of him, completely awestruck. The wolf came by and stood in front of him, cleared his throat and said, "That was a great song you sung, kid."

"Thanks." Musaki replied.

"When I heard that song...it kinda made me feel like...it's related to my pack, you know? I recalled that moment when Shen told me to fire the cannons to aim it at the Dragon Warrior, knowing that my pack is in the way. I couldn't do that. But he just didn't care. All he wanted was to oblierate whomever his target is...so I told him 'no' and with that, he struck me with his blade. I have the scar to prove it to ya."

He revealed his scar on his shoulder to Musaki and he seemed really surprised by it and said, "Wow. That's what happened, huh?"

"Yeah. But if it wasn't for Master Croc and Storming Ox giving me and my pack another chance, I wouldn't be standing here right now, talking to you. That moment still plays in my head to this day and I just didn't know what I was thinking."

"You cared for them so much regardless of your mean streak and when Shen forced you to do something that wasn't your intention to kill anyone in the way-like your pack-you were willing to do anything for them, even if it meant having your life spared."

Wolf Boss froze for a sec and only blinked his good eye and whispered, "You're right. I just...hoped that I wouldn't have been involved with Shen in the first place, you know? That song of yours...it just made me think that everything I do for my pack, I would do it for them. They'd be lost without me and I'd be nothing without them."

Musaki never really knew how much the Wolf Boss became such a softie at times, but to him it just gives the sense that he deeply cares and that one song of his made him realize how precious life could be. He also said, "At least you're turning good now."

"Hey, it's my story and I'm sticking to it."

Musaki chuckled and said, "Gotcha."

Then, Po comes up from behind and gives him a huge hug and said, "That was the sweetest song I've ever heard, Lil' Saki!"

The hug started to choke on Musaki and said, "Dude...not breathing."

He quickly lets go, chuckled nervously and said, "Sorry. It's just...every song you sing always makes me cry."

Musaki rolled his eyes a little and said, "Yeah, I can tell."

Wolf Boss chuckled softly and said, "Does he really?"

"You haven't seen anything yet."

Wolf Boss stood up to Po and said, "Maybe we got off on the wrong foot, panda. I...kinda want to apologize for whatever I have caused to you and your family."

"Hey, the past is the past, buddy. Besides, if it wasn't for what they did to save me, I wouldn't have been the Dragon Warrior." Po added.

"So...are we cool?"

Wolf Boss takes his hand out and Po shakes it, stating the fact that they are cool now. He also told him, "How long have you been doing kung-fu?"

"First time...a week."

"That explains it."

Later on, Musaki went back in the kingdom and sees Arizona in the balcony just looking up at the sky, thinking about how far he came with what happened in a few days time. He walks up behind him and said, "Looking up at the stars?"

Arizona turns around and sees Musaki coming in and said, "Just the new moon."

He looks up and sees the sky and then, he looks up and sees the new moon already. He chuckled softly and said, "Dude, you really are different from other wolves, aren't ya?"

"Yeah."

"Well, different is good. There's no shame of it."

"I know. Funny thing, though...I always thought that being different was just a way of thinking that I will never fit in with anyone else, but all of that changed after I met you and that you saved me from a dark place that Dai Ling sucked me in. I don't think I've ever had a friend like you before."

"Well, hey. No matter how different you are, you're an awesome person. Never lose sight of it."

"I won't."

Then, Ichi, Kazuo, Shing, Zeke and Ruiz came from behind and Zeke said, "That was an awesome song you sung."

"Thanks, Zeke." Musaki replied.

"It brought me and Shing to tears, but Shing won't admit it." Kazuo added.

"I-I was not crying. It was just...something in my eye." Shing explains.

"Dude...you know you suck at hiding things, right?"

Shing sighed heavily and told him, "Okay, so I'm not made of stone. Big deal."

"It's cool though."

Ichi came to him and said, "Both you guys' songs really related to me so much in different ways. Arizona, yours made me realize that no matter how many times people try to tear me down because of my demonic side, I'll still rise from above and be a great person. Musaki, your song showed me that everything I would do for my friends and family, I would give my life for them."

"I'm glad they inspired you." Musaki said.

Also, Musaki realized that he forgot to give them a present for all of them. He reached into his bag and pulled out a few friendship bracelets and he gave them to Arizona, Ichi, Ruiz, Shing, Kazuo and Zeke. Ruiz asked, "What's this?"

"Before I left for my mission, Monkey gave me these friendship bracelets. What these mean is that as long as we wear those things, it shows that a bond within friendship will grow stronger than anything." Musaki explained.

They all put them on and right away, they realize that with the bracelet, the friendship bond will never be broken. Arizona looks at his and said, "Wow. This looks awesome. I'll never take this off."

"Neither will I." Ichi said.

They all came for a group hug and they know that it'll grow stronger until the end. Suddenly, some lights came up from the sky and they turned around and there's fireworks popping up the sky. Suddenly, Kuro came from behind along with Po, Shifu and the Five as they all watched the fireworks together and it was an amazing moment that Musaki, Arizona and the others will remember for the rest of their lives.

"So...anyone up for a snack?" Po asked.

"Po..." Shifu said, sternly.

"Welcome to my world." Musaki said, chuckling.

* * *

><p>That's the end of the story. And thanks for ya'll support; you get two bonus chapters. Wanna know what the bonus chapters were? You'll find out soon enough.<p> 


	27. New Story Choices

Hey, what's up? This is Animation Universe 2005 here and I just want to say thank you for all of you guys that reviewed, subscripted and added my story to my favorites. Sorry for my absence though. I just never had time to post the chapters everyday like I used to. Kinda sucks too.

Anyways, my fic 'Dark Side of the Moon' is complete, so thanks to my new KFP fanfic friends: LTspade (for reviewing my chapters after I post them), YinYang2000, KungFuPandaMasterCheesecake, shouvin and everyone else who reviewed and added it to their favorites. Also to Tan-Tan Tanuki...my best friend here for liking this story and any other fanfic I've done since day one. Thanks a million for taking time to read my story. I know you haven't reviewed much, but I appreciate you reading it.

And to vampire1031, thanks a million for helping me with the story and everything and tell Kiba thanks for the title of the story. Appreciate it!

Also, I wanna make some more and there are a million stories rummaging through my head that are waiting to come out, so I need your guys' help to figure out which ones I should do.

Here are several stories:

"Being Used to a New Life": Takes place after 'Dark Side of the Moon'. Arizona, Ruiz, Shing and Kazuo are adjusting to life in the Jade Palace and Arizona is struggling how to fit in on account of horrifying nightmares about Dai Ling's memory and how to get past it. Can Musaki and the rest of the kung-fu masters help him out?

"Sometimes a Wolf Gets a Second Chance": Wolf Boss survived Shen's deadly blades and comes out alive and plans to go to the Jade palace to ask the Dragon Warrior for a second chance and for his forgiveness. Po somehow finding inner peace wants to help and accept his apology, but will Master Shifu and the Furious Five accept his forgiveness? (I'd like to add that there are very few Wolf Boss fanfics and I hope this will result in expanding more). By the way, I've already started on it, so...

"A Tiger Cub's Horrifying Secret": Musaki's new cousin, Max is living a good life after being adopted by Musaki's cousins, but horrifying memories of someone from the past threatens to destroy his new life with his new family and his fear of his own species went to overdrive. Will Musaki help him out? Will the others plan to help him? That someone from the past is his mother. Not gonna give you much, but let's just say that Max's bio mom is a perv.

"I Can Count on You": (For Tan-Tan Tanuki): Ichi receives a letter from Kuro and reads that her father-Emperor Huan di- is sick and that he needs to find a cure for his sickness, but Shifu tells him it's too dangerous to go. Ichi goes anyway, but Musaki goes along with him as well. Would they cure the emperor in time?

So, what do you guys think? Just tell me which ones you like the most and I'll do them. Personally, I would like to do the Wolf Boss fic the most because there aren't a lot of Wolf Boss fics everywhere on the KFP fanfiction archive...so hopefully it might get more attention.

Anyways, leave a review or PM me if you want to. Thanks a million!

Until then, Animation Universe 2005 saying signing off! SKA-DOOSH!

With that, I close out this fic with an alternate ending to Dark Side of the Moon!


	28. Alternate Ending

To show my thanks for liking and reviewing this story, here's a little treat to wrap it up...an alternate ending!

* * *

><p>Alternate Ending<p>

After the fireworks show, everyone want back to the party and Po wanted to keep this party going and he went into the stage and said, "Hey, guys. There's a little something about our guest of honor that you may not have known-he has some kick-butt dance moves!"

Suddenly, the audience started to became very surprised and interested in his hidden talent and Musaki turned around to see that Po is bragging about his dance skills. He groaned in embarassment and muttered, "This is not happening..."

"I would ask the guest of honor to show us his skills. Would you like that?"

The crowd cheered loudly as the spotlight drew on Musaki and Po told him to come on stage. He had no choice but to go in the stage when deep inside, he wants to knock him out in front of everyone. As soon as he got onstage, Po encouraged him to show the audience his moves.

Soon, the embarassment simmered down and as he stood on stage, some music started playing in the background and he started dancing a little and the rest of the audience were ecstatic to see this. Soon enough, the energy prompted him to use his breakdance/kung-fu dance moves by combining his kung-fu moves with kicking, sparring and backflipping along with doing several breakdancing moves which made the crowd feel very amped up.

Everyone else suddenly got into it and Musaki sees Master Croc doing some dancing by swinging his tail back and forth and doing a handstand backflip in front of everyone. He chuckled and said, "Sounds like someone's taking cues from me."

Storming Ox dropped his jaw in shock and amazement when he saw Musaki's dancing and asked, "How'd you do that?"

"I don't know. I guess I did some training a couple of years ago and then I got bored and I did some dancing, so I thought I would combine the two into this massive awesome...combination."

"Impressive."

"I've never seen anything like this." Arizona added.

"Bro, you haven't seen anything yet."

Then, a dance song came in full force and pretty quickly, Ichi, Kuro and Zeke came onstage and started dancing as they sung one song.

**_Musaki: So, may I have your attention_**

**_Look in my direction_**

**_here, you'll see the sun never sets_**

**_Ichi: We don't have to worry_**

**_Never in a hurry_**

**_One by one, the stars go to bed_**

**_Both: And I step into the spotlight again_**

**_All: Can't help myself_**

**_I got to be_**

**_when the lights are shining down on me_**

**_I wanna feel the sun_**

**_So turn that walk into a run_**

**_Gonna bring the party when i come_**

**_Sing it out if you wanna have some fun_**

**_And into the spotlight, we will go_**

**_follow me, cause baby life's a show_**

**_Into the spotlight, you will see_**

**_it's the only place to be_**

**_Musaki and Zeke: Sha, sha, sha_**

**_Kuro: Oh..the music's like a magnet_**

**_The best thing on the planet_**

**_it's pullin' us together again_**

**_Zeke: So, let's start a commotion_**

**_Soundwaves on the ocean_**

**_Wake the moon and grab your best friend_**

**_Both: And let's step into the spotlight again..._**

**_All: Can't help myself_**

**_I got to be_**

**_when the lights are shining down on me_**

**_I wanna feel the sun_**

**_So turn that walk into a run_**

**_Gonna bring the party when I come_**

**_Sing it out if you wanna have some fun_**

**_And into the spotlight, we will go_**

**_follow me, cause baby life's a show_**

**_Into the spotlight you will see_**

**_it's the only place to be_**

**_Turn it up!_**

**_Musaki: When you're downhearted_**

**_All: Let the music..._**

**_Ichi: Get us started_**

**_Musaki & Zeke: Gotta let it go once in a while..._**

**_All: Turn it up!_**

**_Kuro: There's nothin' to it_**

**_All: When it's love_**

**_Zeke: We'll just re-do it!_**

**_All: Might as well have fun in this life..._**

**_Can't help myself, I gotta be_**

**_When the lights are shining down on me_**

**_I wanna feel the sun!_**

**_So turn that walk into a run_**

**_Gonna bring the party when I come_**

**_Sing it out if you wanna have some fun_**

**_Can't help myself, I gotta be_**

**_When the lights are shining down on me_**

**_I wanna feel the sun!_**

**_So turn that walk into a run_**

**_Gonna bring the party when I come_**

**_Sing it out if you wanna have some fun_**

**_And into the spotlight we will go_**

**_Follow me, cause baby life's a show_**

**_Into the spotlight and you will see_**

**_it's the only place for me_**

**_Into the spotlight and you will see_**

**_it's the only place for me!_**

Everyone cheered and applauded and they took a bow as well. Another song started playing and they all jumped out of the stage and showed off their dance skills and everyone in the audience danced as well. Musaki, Ichi, Kuro and Zeke were doing their own dances and Musaki did his breakdance/kung-fu moves, which resulted in backflips and kung-fu stances. Zeke did the same, but got down on the ground with his legs spinning around and Ichi and Kuro did a backflip along with a rockstar move of their own.

Po took the dancefloor on stage when he danced crazily and then, he ended up shaking his ginormous butt all over the place. Shifu and the others could not believe what they were seeing-the Dragon Warrior shaking his rear while dancing.

"Po!" Musaki exclaimed.

"I'm shakin', Lil' Saki! I'm about to bust a move!" Po added.

"I think you're about to bust your butt with that."

"Now I see why they named it the forbidden dance." Shifu said, muttering under Musaki's ear.

"Forbidden dance? I thought it was a dance that shouldn't be shown to everyone." Mantis joked.

"Come on, guys. I'm shakin' what my mama gave me!" Po exclaimed, whooping.

"I think she might want it back." Monkey added.

"Come on. Let's just have some fun, guys. Besides, I'm just getting warmed up." Musaki said.

And to his surprise, Arizona and Ruiz were dancing as well, but showing off their superawesome moves along with Monkey. Arizona did an insane move using his kung-fu and jumping on the ground with Ruiz going one way and Arizona on another and they stood on their hands.

"Whoa...I didn't know you could do that!" Musaki exclaimed.

"Well, we got it from you." Ruiz said.

"With the past being the past and all, we just thought that it'd be great to just have fun and enjoy right now...just like you said." Arizona said.

"Can't live in misery forever." Ichi added.

"Ichi and Musaki are correct. Just live in the moment and be happy." Shifu said, with a smile.

"You helped us see that and we'll never forget that." Arizona said.

They held up their friendship bracelets and Musaki held up his and the bond will grow stronger than they'll ever know.

"Hey, guys! Let's get our swag on!" Monkey exclaimed.

"What did he say?" asked Crane.

"Let's just go with what he said and have fun." Musaki reminded him.

Po looks at Musaki and he's come a long way since his mission and that he's dancing as a guest of honor and he felt like he is in his happiest moment and he smiled and said, "That's my little brother."

Meanwhile, Master Croc and Storming Ox were dancing and Musaki caught them and tagged along. They followed Musaki's moves and they emulated it into this awesome kung-fu dance mixture. Soon, the others joined in as well and they danced throughout the night, knowing that it'll be the celebration to remember.

"Mission accomplished!" Musaki exclaimed, with a smile.

* * *

><p>And that's it! Thank you guys for your awesome support for 'Dark Side of the Moon'. I'm currently working on a new fic, 'Sometimes a Wolf Gets a Second Chance',; a Wolf Boss fanfic. Hope ya'll enjoy it! Special thanks to Tan-Tan Tanuki, LTspade, KungFuPandaMasterCheesecake, YinYang2000 and everyone else who added this story to their faves or subscribed it! Animation Universe 2005 is out!<p> 


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